Pat Martin

[Public Safety, March 31st, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, at midnight tonight, federal funding will end for a program called circles of support and accountability, designed to prevent the most dangerous high-risk sex offenders from repeating their crimes.

Based on the principles of restorative justice, 16 circles of support across the country involve more than 700 trained volunteers, each circle consisting of a group of five to seven volunteers who support and hold accountable sex offenders who are returning to the community after serving their full sentence. The results speak for themselves. No fewer than four independent studies have found that the program dramatically improves public safety and saves money. This is a successful made-in-Canada model that has been copied around the world.

Last May, the Minister of Public Safety intervened and restored funding to the program so that it could continue its important work. I urge the minister to intervene again and support the many community members who are volunteering their time to enhance public safety, promote rehabilitation, and prevent released sex offenders from reoffending. Without this support, the risk of further victimization will be greater and public safety will be compromised.

[Petitions, March 31st, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to present a petition signed by literally tens of thousands of Canadians.

The petitioners call upon the House of Commons and Parliament here assembled to take note that asbestos is the greatest industrial killer the world has ever known and that more Canadians now die from asbestos than all other industrial and occupational causes combined.

They therefore call upon Parliament to ban asbestos in all of its forms, end all government subsidies of asbestos, and stop blocking international health and safety conventions designed to protect workers from asbestos, such as the Rotterdam Convention.

[Petitions, March 26th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to introduce a petition signed by literally tens of thousands of Canadians who call upon the House of Commons here and Parliament assembled to take note that asbestos is the greatest industrial killer that the world has ever known and, in fact, that more Canadians now die from asbestos than all other industrial and occupational causes combined.

Therefore, these petitioners call upon the Government of Canada to ban asbestos in all of its forms; institute a just transition program for asbestos workers in the communities they live in; end all government subsidies of asbestos in Canada and abroad; and stop blocking international health and safety conventions designed to protect workers from asbestos, such as the Rotterdam Convention.

[Committees of the House, March 26th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 9th report of the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates in relation to its study of the certificate of nomination of Joe Friday to the position of Public Sector Integrity Commissioner. The committee has examined the qualifications and competence of the nominee and agrees that the nomination of Joe Friday as Public Sector Integrity Commissioner be concurred in.

[Committees of the House, March 13th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the eighth report of the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates in relation to its study of the supplementary estimates (C), 2014-15.

I am proud to report that the committee, in keeping with its commitment to make a more thorough and robust examination of the supplementary estimates, undertook to study $730 million of the $733 million in estimates that were referred to the committee, which is again in keeping with what all committees should be undertaking: to examine the estimates and not simply allow them to pass unnoticed.

[Ethics, March 13th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, Vic Toews wife now denies that she took a $1-million kickback from a first nations chief who was directly involved with her husband, the senior minister for Manitoba. She says it was no more than $50,000 tops, as if that makes it okay. I know it is peanuts on the scale of Conservative shenanigans. Mulroney's personal rogues would not even get out of bed for that kind of chump change.

Would the government not agree that it is time to tighten up on the post-employment rules for ministers and their spouses so that they cannot exploit the time they spent in public office for personal and private gain?

[Yukon and Nunavut Regulatory Improvement Act, March 11th, 2015]

I am being denied the right to speak on this bill.

[Yukon and Nunavut Regulatory Improvement Act, March 11th, 2015]

It serves the lobbyists who wrote it.

[Public Works and Government Services, March 10th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I think you are aware that we are spending millions of dollars removing all the asbestos from the Parliament buildings because, God forbid, a single MP should ever be exposed to a single fibre of asbestos. Yet virtually all of our government buildings are riddled with the stuff, putting both private and public sector workers at risk.

Therefore, in the absence of a comprehensive removal program would the Minister of Public Works at least concede to creating and publishing a national registry of all government buildings that are contaminated with asbestos so the workers in these buildings have at least a fighting chance when they go to work to protect themselves from this class A carcinogen?

[Questions on the Order Paper, February 27th, 2015]

With respect to electronic records and messages including, in particular, text messages, short message service (SMS), and BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), broken-down by government departments, institutions and agencies: (a) what are the departmental policies for storage and retention of these records and messages, broken-down by record type; (b) if these records and messages are stored and retained, what are the storage and retention periods; (c) is there any policy in place to protect records or messages that are of business value; and (d) are there any planned changes to these policies, and if so, what will be proposed?