Marlene Jennings

[Volunteer Work, October 15th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, this is the International Year of Volunteers and Women's History Month.

Since the 18th century, where native women acted as volunteer intermediaries in the fur trade, women have been actively volunteering to make a difference in Canadian society.

More than four million women age 15 and over participate in formal volunteer activities. That is over one-third of all Canadian women. Over twice that number participate in informal volunteer activities outside their homes whether it is helping others with housework, child care or caring for the sick and elderly.

On average Canadian women spend 136 hours per year on voluntary activities. My hat goes off to all Canadian women who volunteer.

[International Aid, September 28th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, obviously I am not the Minister of Finance, but I believe I can answer the question. Canada has been helping Afghanistan for over 10 years. We have given over $120 million to Afghanistan.

We do not recognize the Taliban, that is clear. Our money is funnelled through the UN agencies and the NGOs. We are working closely with both to ensure that we are there to help the refugees who are there now and those who may become refugees in the future. We will be there.

[International Aid, September 28th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, Canada has always been there in emergency situations across the world. As the member mentioned, last week the Minister for International Cooperation announced a $1 million aid package to the United Nations in response to their $6 million request.

Our funds helped kick-start the operation that he is now talking about. The alert is a worst case scenario. Obviously the UN has to prepare and so do countries, and Canada will be there.

[Foreign Aid, September 19th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I assume that the hon. member on the other side was not listening. I announced in the House today that the Minister for International Cooperation just made an announcement of $1 million in humanitarian assistance to the millions of Afghani refugees who have fled to Pakistan and Iran.

We have a tradition in Canada of providing humanitarian assistance to displaced persons and we will continue to do so.

[Foreign Affairs, September 19th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for the question. I am pleased to inform the House that just today the Minister for International Cooperation announced $1 million in humanitarian assistance to aid the millions of Afghani refugees who have fled to Pakistan and Iran. Our assistance will provide basic health care needs, shelter and water to these displaced people in Pakistan and Iran and it will be done through the UN agencies and their staff on the ground.

[Geneviève Jeanson, June 11th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, for the second time in her young cycling career, Lachine's Geneviève Jeanson was named personality of the week by the daily La Presse .

On June 3, Geneviève Jeanson won a spectacular victory in a women's world cup road cycling event held on Mount Royal. She took off and rode alone for 75 kilometres, crossing the finish line with a lead of 7 minutes and 26 seconds over her closest competitor.

At barely 19 years of age, Geneviève Jeanson is one of the best among the world's elite female cyclists. On my behalf and on behalf of the residents of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, I congratulate this young athlete who is an example of perseverance for us all, and I wish her other great victories.

[Infrastructures, June 8th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, trade exchanges between Canada and the United States have doubled in the past six years, and 70% of them involve shipping by road. No new infrastructures, however, have been constructed for crossing the St. Lawrence River in the greater Montreal region.

For this reason, the Federal Bridge Corporation has proposed the construction of two new bridges and 14 kilometres of highway.

Completion of Highway 30 and the erection of two bridges over the St. Lawrence would enhance access to intermodal infrastructures, revitalize interregional exchanges, reduce maintenance costs of other infrastructures, and better distribute traffic over the various Montreal area bridges.

For all these reasons, among others, action must be taken urgently.

[Tax Administrations, June 5th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Minister of National Revenue opened the first world conference on tax administrations in an electronic world.

Would the minister elaborate on the goals of this very important conference?

[Points Of Order, May 30th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I take good note of your comments to the effect that we should not repeat arguments that have already been presented in the House.

I am greatly comforted by the remarks of the hon. member for Lac-Saint-Louis and I fully support what he proposed.

I will simply touch very briefly on two issues. First, is this a tax or a levy? Dictionaries clearly define the word “tax” as “a contribution to the revenues of the government that is compulsory for taxpayers, goods or businesses”.

The levy mentioned in Bill S-15 does not in any way contribute to government revenues. It comes from the tobacco industry and it is paid to the foundation without ever being part of the treasury, even if the foundation were to be disbanded. At that point, the balance would be transferred to the Canadian Tobacco Manufacturers Council.

My second point is whether or not this is a matter of law. Such issues usually come under the jurisdiction of the House of Commons. As we know, according to our tradition and rules, the Speaker of the House does not rule on constitutional or legal issues.

If we listen to the debates on the point of order raised by the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, we begin to see that this may be a legal issue. Therefore, I urge the Chair to simply look at the Canadian precedents on the issue of levies, at the two conditions that are proposed and see if this bill does meet these two criteria. If so, I call on the Chair to deem the bill in order, thus allowing the debate to continue in the House.

[Youth Criminal Justice Act, May 29th, 2001]

Madam Speaker, first, I thank the hon. member for his question. I would like to tell him that I was elected in the past to sit on the board of Batshaw, which is responsible for all the youth centres in the English speaking community of the island of Montreal. I know very well the youth criminal justice system in Quebec and elsewhere in Canada.

Secondly, I have examined the first bill introduced by the minister. I did not support it, because it was too complicated and it penalized the young. I also thought that if it was not possible to make improvements through that bill, it was better to simply correct the shortcomings in the Young Offenders Act, which does have some shortcomings.

However the minister heeded the representations of the justice committee and more particularly the recommendations of the Quebec Bar Association. My colleague opposite will probably agree that the Quebec Bar Association knows what it is talking about.

In its presentation, this association made comprehensive recommendations to improve the bill. The minister listened, and she incorporated all or most of these recommendations. That is the first point.

Second, I have been asked if I had any knowledge of the position of the coalition, for example. Yes I do, and I find it rather unfortunate that that position is in fact a position on an earlier version of the bill. The coalition does not seem to be aware of the major changes the minister made to her bill. I would like to give an example.

Under the Young Offenders Act, 14 year-olds may be given adult sentences for certain criminal offences. However when we listen to some of the people who are opposed to Bill C-7, we hear them say how terrible it is that 14-year-olds may receive adult sentences under Bill C-7. The possibility already exists.

I wonder sometimes if people are trying to mislead Canadians when they do not give the facts, when they do not interpret correctly the present legislation that has been in effect in Canada for 16 years and when they do not give all the information.

Also, under the Young Offenders Act, teens can be transferred to adult court for certain criminal offences. That is terrible. Not one single expert working with young offenders is in favour of that. However, Bill C-7 corrects this flaw in the Young Offenders Act. Now, the youth court will have exclusive jurisdiction to hear cases involving young offenders prosecuted under the youth criminal justice bill, including—