Peter Van Loan

[Privilege, December 1st, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I am rising in response to a point of privilege that was raised by the member for Windsor—Tecumseh related to information that he sought at parliamentary committee from the head of the Correctional Service of Canada, Mr. Don Head. This information was to be conveyed by Mr. Head on a timely basis for consideration before the matter was dealt with in Parliament. It was provided to my office. It was conveyed to the hon. member and to others. However, that was not done on the timely basis it should have been done. There is in fact no good reason why it was not done on a timely basis, and for that reason I come before you to apologize unreservedly to the member for Windsor—Tecumseh and to the House for the failure to provide those documents. While he did have them early enough, they were not conveyed in the proper fashion and it should have been done properly and I apologize for that.

[Justice, November 23rd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, our government believes that those who commit murder must face serious consequences when they do so, which is why our government introduced legislation in this House, Bill C-36, which is being debated today in the House of Commons. This legislation would put an end to the loophole for lifers. Under this legislation, criminals who commit first or second degree murder would no longer be able to apply for early parole.

We are supporting families who do not want to be victimized all over again at Parole Board hearings, and we stand by the victims.

The Liberals and the NDP have not made clear where they stand on this legislation. Canadians support it. We call on them to support it too.

[Human Rights, November 20th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, our government is of course strongly committed to protecting Canadians from all forms of criminal violence and indeed protecting all Canadians. I should underline that.

That is why we introduced the Tackling Violent Crime Act and had it passed by the House. That is why we are looking to repeal the faint hope clause. That is why we are eliminating the bonus credits for time served for those who are facing prosecution for serious violent offences.

As for the specific legislative suggestions the member has made, I am happy to share those with the Minister of Justice.

[Tobacco Smuggling, November 20th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, we actually have a very robust anti-contraband tobacco strategy that is being implemented and members will observe that it is being implemented very successfully. Seizures of contraband tobacco and charges this year are up significantly as a result of the excellent work of our police forces in implementing the strategy. We will continue to do that.

As members will recall, I recently implemented and made permanent the shiprider arrangement whereby we can, together with the Americans, police our joint maritime borders where a lot of this kind of trafficking has happened in the past. We think it is a serious problem. We are serious about tackling crime and we will continue to do so.

[Firearms Registry, November 5th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, it is clear that the firearms registry is a huge waste of money and does not help prevent crime. That is clear.

I encourage the Bloc Québécois leader to do as the other leaders are doing and let the members vote freely, and we will have more support for the abolition of the firearms registry.

[Firearms Registry, November 5th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to quote a press release I received today.

The Fédération québécoise des chasseurs et pêcheurs welcomes the fact that members of Parliament have supported private member's bill C-391, introduced for second reading in the House of Commons yesterday. The Fédération believes that the so-called unrestricted long arms registry is not useful, does not protect the public, and costs Canadian taxpayers a great deal of money.

The Fédération québécoise des chasseurs et pêcheurs represents 125,000 members.

[Points of Order, November 4th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the gloves that people were wearing here, showing enthusiastic support for Canadian athletes, was a private sector initiative designed to support Canadian athletes. We on this side ensured that they were all paid for. People can buy them at $10 a piece and help support our athletes. That would be the right Olympic spirit and a great show of pride in Canada.

[Firearms Registry, November 4th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the report in question will be tabled in this House in accordance with the schedule that is set out in the rules governing reports like that. But Canadians do not need another report to know that the long gun registry is very efficient at harassing law-abiding outdoors enthusiasts and farmers and wasting money, while being terribly inefficient at combatting crime.

Let us all get together. Canadians are watching. Let us fix this wasteful registry tonight.

[Firearms Registry, November 4th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the long gun registry does a good job of harassing law-abiding hunters and farmers and it does a good job of wasting money, but it does not do a good job of combatting crime. That is why today, members of this House will have an opportunity to finally fix that problem.

The Leader of the Opposition said, “I want to be in a party that respects the rights of legitimate gun owners. It's an issue of freedom”. Today he said that the long gun registry lacks legitimacy. Today he gets a chance to add his voice as well. Will he be one of those who does what he says, or is he another politician who says one thing and does another?

[Health, November 4th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, we do have a federal emergency response plan. It has been working very well in occasions like the spring floods in Manitoba. However, in terms of the H1N1 flu, we are dealing with that under the pandemic management plan, an entirely separate plan.

The federal responsibilities are being carried out very well. We understand clearly the division of responsibilities. We have delivered the highest quantity of vaccine per capita of anywhere in the world. We have carried out that part of our plan.

Another obligation is to make Canadians aware of the need to get vaccinated. They seem to be aware of that need now.