Pat Martin

[Public Health Agency of Canada Act, May 5th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, much of the work of the Public Health Agency obviously deals with infectious disease control, the outbreak of SARS, the possibility of mad cow or Asian flu for instance.

I am more interested in a different part of the mandate of the agency, and that is the issue of public health due to exposure to pesticides, asbestos, and other known health hazards that are among us. Our agency is relatively silent on those things. To be fair, perhaps it is that in recent years SARS and these other possible epidemics or pandemics have been top of mind issues.

Would the member agree that there is a role to play for the Public Health Agency to dwell on the bigger picture of public health for people's well-being and to relieve the burden on our health care system with a healthier population?

[Old Age Security Act, May 5th, 2006]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-262, An Act to amend the Old Age Security Act (monthly guaranteed income supplement).

Mr. Speaker, this is my last bill for today. All through the last Parliament we tried to have the guaranteed income supplement made an automatic benefit so that the onus would not be on the seniors to apply for it. We learned that many seniors were eligible but were not getting the benefit because they simply did not fill out the proper paperwork.

This bill goes further and asks for full retroactivity for any senior who may have been eligible for the guaranteed income supplement but failed to file the paperwork on time. The government limits retroactivity to 11 months. We believe the retroactivity should extend to the day upon which they were eligible. This would create that authority.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

[Pension Ombudsman Act, May 5th, 2006]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-261, An Act to establish the office of Pension Ombudsman to investigate administrative difficulties encountered by persons in their dealings with the Government of Canada in respect of benefits under the Canada Pension Plan or the Old Age Security Act or tax liability on such benefits and to review the policies and practices applied in the administration and adjudication of such benefits and liabilities.

Mr. Speaker, there is not too much more I wish to add except to say that many MPs will recognize the need for some sort of further advocate for their constituents who get frustrated by the adjudication or the administration of the Canada pension plan, old age security, the guaranteed income supplement and, most critically, the Canada pension plan disability chapter, which most Canadians find horrendous to try to deal with.

This would create the office of an ombudsman who would be able to advocate on behalf of those individuals. It would be a resource for the offices of members of Parliament, who would be able to refer their constituents to the office of the ombudsman for help and support.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

[Income Tax Act, May 5th, 2006]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-260, An Act to amend the Income Tax Act (deductibility of expense of tools provided as a requirement of employment).

Mr. Speaker, as a tradesman, although not currently practising, I rise to stand on behalf of my fellow carpenters and other building trades workers or anyone who uses tools in a job.

Recognizing that the recent Conservative budget does acknowledge a tax deduction for the purchase of tools, this bill improves on that, if I may say so, by having no ceiling and no limit. It broadens the parameters of who would be eligible to deduct the expense of these tools for the use and the purpose of earning income.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

[Canada Water Export Prohibition Act, May 5th, 2006]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-259, An Act to prohibit the export of water by interbasin transfers.

Mr. Speaker, most MPs will recognize that water is the oil of the 21st century. This bill seeks to ban the bulk sale and interbasin transfer of water, recognizing, as it says in the bill, that the interbasin transfer of water is a crime against nature, offends the natural order and threatens aquatic ecosystems with invasive species and biota.

The bill would ban this practice. It would prohibit the practice for anyone who contemplates selling water in bulk through the interbasin transfer of water.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

[Louis Riel Act, May 5th, 2006]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-258, An Act respecting Louis Riel.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce a private member's bill which would reverse the conviction of one of our colleagues, a fellow member of Parliament, Louis Riel, who was elected to the House of Commons three times. He was a father of Manitoba and a father of Confederation.

On behalf of the Métis people, I ask not just to have Louis Riel pardoned, but this bill calls for the conviction to be reversed. The conviction for high treason would then be found to have never taken place. He would be declared innocent of high treason and his name would be restored that way in the history books.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

[Public Health Agency of Canada Act, May 2nd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask my colleague from St. Catharines for his view on one of the most obvious public health concerns that we can do something about and that even in the context of this agency we could do something about, and that is the fact that Canada is still the third largest exporter and producer of asbestos in the world.

In fact, much of Canada is contaminated with Canadian asbestos. There is a recent outbreak that is being noted in the Cape Breton region of Nova Scotia, where public housing is being abandoned because of the Canadian asbestos in the walls. Yet the government continues to promote, support and subsidize asbestos mines; in fact, 120 foreign missions paid for by the federal government in 60 different countries by the Canadian asbestos industry, paid for by the government dumping this stuff into the third world.

Would he agree with me that his government should stop subsidizing this, should stop being merchants of death and contaminating developing nations in third world countries with Canadian asbestos? Would he agree that the asbestos industry should be shut down and that his government should stop subsidizing it in the interest of everyone's public health?

[Public Health Agency of Canada Act, May 2nd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the member for St. Paul's was of course the former minister of public health. Does she think that the Public Health Agency perhaps may have dedicated more time to issues of preventative medicine had it not been preoccupied and seized with things like SARS, mad cow and Asian flu?

In other words, epidemics and pandemics seem to take the priorities and energies from the new Public Health Agency and leave very little time or resources to deal with things like banning trans fats, which I approached her with early on. She cooperated in dealing with that public health issue. There were issues like banning pesticides which her colleague from Ottawa used to push aggressively.

It seems to me that as a nation, in dealing with public health, we embraced the idea, but we were knocked off the game plan by unforeseeable things like SARS. Would the member care to comment on the dual role the agency could and should have?

[Canada Labour Code, May 1st, 2006]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-236, an act to amend the Canada Labour Code (replacement workers).

Mr. Speaker, I could not be more proud than to be joined by my colleagues in the NDP today on May Day, the international day of worker solidarity, to introduce this private member's bill which we see as the natural progression of the right to free collective bargaining.

The NDP, since its inception, has struggled for the rights of working people. In fact, many would say that was the very reason that the party was founded. Canadians enjoy the right to free collective bargaining, but that right is undermined when employers use scabs in the event of a work stoppage.

This bill will finally bring Canada and its labour relations regime fully into the 21st century by banning the use of replacement workers, banning scabs. We believe it is an idea whose time has come and I am proud to introduce this bill on May Day.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

[International Bridges and Tunnels Act, May 1st, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, my own personal view is that critical pieces of infrastructure, such as the Ambassador Bridge, should not be privately owned. I think this is far too critical to be in private hands, to be bought, sold and traded away to who knows whom down the road.

I know the political philosophy of the Conservative Party is to privatize everything. It wants to get government out of everything and sell it to the private sector. If the government can make a buck on it that is what is holy.

Does the parliamentary secretary agree that things, such as the Ambassador Bridge, should not be privately owned? Is there anything in the bill to give some comfort to Canadians that we will retain public control and ownership over those key infrastructure pieces such as the Ambassador Bridge?