Fisheries committee  Thank you, Senator Hervieux-Payette. Thank you for your presentation. Before we go to MP Simms, I'd like to welcome the Honourable Hunter Tootoo, MP from Nunavut. Welcome to the committee. MP Simms, for 10 minutes, the floor is yours.

Fisheries committee  We have a full crew of helpful clerks and analysts here ready to go. I'd like to welcome our guests. We have the Honourable Céline Hervieux-Payette. We have MP Yvonne Jones from Labrador, and the very capable Mr. Scott Simms from Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame. I believe the Honourable Hunter Tootoo will be joining us shortly.

Fisheries committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I was expecting to wrap this up, but I'm willing to start. I would like to thank you and the clerk for inviting me, and the members for accepting my participation. Of course, this is a great day for me. I've been involved with this matter for quite a long time.

National Seal Products Day Act  All that being said, I want to thank all of my colleagues in the House for allowing me to bring this forward. I want to thank Céline Hervieux-Payette, a former senator, for being the genesis of this particular bill. It was my honour to bring it forward. I also want to thank the former member for Yukon, who also made a go at this and it did not quite work.

National Seal Products Day Act  The bill, an act respecting national seal products day, was brought forward by Senator Céline Hervieux-Payette, a Liberal senator who has since retired from the Senate. It has now made its way to the House of Commons, championed by my colleague the member for Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, another individual who we know is a very passionate supporter of the sealing industry in Canada.

National Seal Products Day Act  moved for leave to introduce Bill S-208, An Act respecting National Seal Products Day. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Senator Hervieux-Payette for providing Bill S-208. The bill proposes to create May 20 as seal products day in this country. There is a rich history to this particular legislation that stretches back several hundred years for Atlantic Canada and eastern Quebec.

Bill S-223 An Act to amend the Firearms Act and the Criminal Code and to make consequential changes to other Acts

Short Title Firearms Act Criminal Code Consequential Amendments Defence Production Act National Defence Act Transitional Provision Coordinating Amendments Coming into Force Explanatory Notes First Session, Forty-second Parliament, 64-65 Elizabeth II, 2015-2016 SENATE OF CANADA BILL S-223 An Act to amend the Firearms Act and the Criminal Code and to make consequential changes to other Acts FIRST READING, APRIL 12, 2016 THE HONOURABLE SENATOR Hervieux-Payette, P.C. 4211419 SUMMARY This enactment amends the Firearms Act to tighten the rules governing the transportation of firearms that are not hunting firearms. It also replaces the concept of firearms registration with that of firearms inscription and restricts the locations where firearms subject to an inscription certificate must be kept.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  People like Senator Hervieux-Payette have been fighting for this for a very long time. Certainly people who want this section repealed come into my office on a regular basis. The fact that it ended up in the TRC's calls to action was surprising to some, I think, but it was welcomed by many others.

Bill S-220 An Act to amend the Criminal Code (international fraud)

Short Title Criminal Code Explanatory Notes First Session, Forty-second Parliament, 64-65 Elizabeth II, 2015-2016 SENATE OF CANADA BILL S-220 An Act to amend the Criminal Code (international fraud) FIRST READING, MARCH 9, 2016 THE HONOURABLE SENATOR Hervieux-Payette, P.C. 4211520 SUMMARY This enactment amends the Criminal Code to give certain fraud-related offences an international scope and to add aggravating circumstances for the purpose of sentencing.

Bill S-216 An Act to provide the means to rationalize the governance of Canadian public corporations

Short Title Interpretation Board of Directors Officers Reports Enforcement Coming into Force First Session, Forty-second Parliament, 64 Elizabeth II, 2015-2016 SENATE OF CANADA BILL S-216 An Act to provide the means to rationalize the governance of Canadian public corporations FIRST READING, JANUARY 26, 2016 THE HONOURABLE SENATOR HERVIEUX-PAYETTE, P.C. 4210838 SUMMARY This enactment limits the cumulative period that an individual may sit on the board of directors of a Canadian public corporation to 96 months and prohibits an individual from sitting on the board of more than four Canadian public corporations at the same time.

Bill S-207 Boards of Directors Modernization Act

S-207 First Session, Forty-second Parliament, 64 Elizabeth II, 2015 SENATE OF CANADA BILL S-207 An Act to modernize the composition of the boards of directors of certain corporations, financial institutions and parent Crown corporations, and in particular to ensure the balanced representation of women and men on those boards first reading, December 8, 2015 THE HONOURABLE SENATOR HERVIEUX-PAYETTE, P.C. 4211110 SUMMARY This enactment requires the following corporations to ensure that the proportion of directors of each sex on their board of directors is not less than 40 per cent and that shareholders may vote against a candidate for a director’s position: (a) a distributing corporation within the meaning of the Canada Business Corporations Act, any of the issued securities of which remain outstanding and are held by more than one person; (b) a bank that is listed in Schedule I to the Bank Act; (c) a cooperative credit association regulated by the Cooperative Credit Associations Act; (d) a distributing company regulated by the Insurance Companies Act; (e) a distributing company regulated by the Trust and Loan Companies Act; and (f) any other federally regulated, publicly traded corporation.

Bill S-231 An Act to amend the Firearms Act, the Criminal Code and the Defence Production Act

S-231 Second Session, Forty-first Parliament, 62-63-64 Elizabeth II, 2013-2014-2015 SENATE OF CANADA BILL S-231 An Act to amend the Firearms Act, the Criminal Code and the Defence Production Act first reading, June 11, 2015 THE HONOURABLE SENATOR HERVIEUX-PAYETTE, P.C. 1419 SUMMARY This enactment amends the Firearms Act to tighten the rules governing the transportation of firearms that are not hunting firearms. It also replaces the concept of firearms registration with that of firearms inscription and restricts the locations where firearms subject to an inscription certificate must be kept.

Bill S-217 Boards of Directors Modernization Act

S-217 Second Session, Forty-first Parliament, 62-63 Elizabeth II, 2013-2014 SENATE OF CANADA BILL S-217 An Act to modernize the composition of the boards of directors of certain corporations, financial institutions and parent Crown corporations, and in particular to ensure the balanced representation of women and men on those boards first reading, March 26, 2014 THE HONOURABLE SENATOR HERVIEUX-PAYETTE, P.C. 1110-2 SUMMARY This enactment requires the following corporations to ensure that the proportion of directors of each sex on their board of directors is not less than 40 per cent and that shareholders may vote against a candidate for a director’s position: (a) a distributing corporation within the meaning of the Canada Business Corporations Act, any of the issued securities of which remain outstanding and are held by more than one person; (b) a bank that is listed in Schedule I to the Bank Act; (c) a cooperative credit association regulated by the Cooperative Credit Associations Act; (d) a distributing company regulated by the Insurance Companies Act; (e) a distributing company regulated by the Trust and Loan Companies Act; and (f) any other federally regulated, publicly traded corporation.

Bill S-212 Boards of Directors Modernization Act

S-212 Second Session, Forty-first Parliament, 62 Elizabeth II, 2013 SENATE OF CANADA BILL S-212 An Act to modernize the composition of the boards of directors of certain corporations, financial institutions and parent Crown corporations, and in particular to ensure the balanced representation of women and men on those boards first reading, November 27, 2013 THE HONOURABLE SENATOR HERVIEUX-PAYETTE, P.C. 1110 SUMMARY This enactment requires the following corporations to ensure that the proportion of directors of each sex on their board of directors is not less than 40 per cent and that shareholders may vote against a candidate for a director’s position: (a) a distributing corporation within the meaning of the Canada Business Corporations Act, any of the issued securities of which remain outstanding and are held by more than one person; (b) a bank that is listed in Schedule I to the Bank Act; (c) a cooperative credit association regulated by the Cooperative Credit Associations Act; (d) a distributing company regulated by the Insurance Companies Act; (e) a distributing company regulated by the Trust and Loan Companies Act; and (f) any other federally regulated, publicly traded corporation.

Status of Women committee  Can you assure us that the council members know when a bill is tabled by one of our colleagues? I don't remember who it was, but we will get you the information. There is also Senator Hervieux-Payette's bill that has been around for a long time. Does the work of parliamentarians get to the council?