Pursuant to the provisions of Standing Order 110(1), these are deemed referred to the appropriate standing committees, a list of which is attached.
important recommendations we hope the government will follow up on.
(1505)
Pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee requests that the government table a comprehensive response to this report.
[English]
He said: Mr. Speaker, the purpose of the bill is to allow the operation of casinos on board international cruise ships. As you know, the configuration of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, its estuary in particular, is such that it requires cruise ships to shut down their casinos off Anticosti Island. They must remain closed for up to two days.
This bill has been awaited for a number of years. It is a bill on which not only all stakeholders involved in shipping in the Quebec City area are unanimous, but also those in the greater region as well. The bill has the support of the Corporation des pilotes du Bas-Saint-Laurent, SODES, the Secrétariat à la mise en valeur du Saint-Laurent, the Quebec Port Corporation, and many others.
In closing, I would like to point out that this is a bill which might be of interest not only to MPs from the greater Quebec City region, but also to all whose ridings lie along the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and even those along the Great Lakes, as far inland as Thunder Bay.
(Motion deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed.)
He said: Mr. Speaker, I would like to introduce this private member's bill which has come about as a result of severe flooding in my riding last summer which forced the sell-off of substantial numbers of livestock. I discovered that although under conditions of drought producers are allowed to defer income from the forced sale of livestock, that does not extend to forced sale of livestock under any other conditions. This bill would extend that provision for deferment of income to other natural disasters and statutory destruction of livestock.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed.)
(Motion agreed to.)
The first petition calls on Parliament to ensure that the government creates opportunities for youth through internship programs, information technology, improved Canada student loans, summer student job programs and programs targeted directly to youth at risk.
The petitioners therefore call on Parliament to continue to take a tough line on crime and enact laws that will provide Canadians with safe homes and safe streets, which they so rightly deserve.
The Speaker: My colleagues, I point this out only so that you will know. Usually two petitions is all right; three if you read them very quickly.
[Translation]
I take pleasure in tabling this petition on behalf of these people.
[English]
The petitioners ask that the Criminal Code of Canada be amended to specifically include and protect police dogs, and to include fines and/or imprisonment for the wrongful injury or killing of police dogs.
This petition is with regard to the release of sex offenders, notification in the community, and to prohibit for life sex offenders working in a position of trust and responsibility with children. That has been an ongoing tirade of petitions that I have been able to present for people.
The petitioners draw to the attention of the House that Canada's future depends on giving our children the opportunity to be productive citizens.
The petitioners therefore pray and call on Parliament to ensure that the federal government embark on a national strategy to tackle youth employment.
The petitioners pray and request that Parliament continue to uphold the fundamental principles of the Canada Health Act so that public health care remains accessible, comprehensive, portable, universal and publicly administered.
Therefore the petitioners request that Canada immediately withdraw from all arrangements concerning financial and technical assistance to China for nuclear reactor technology and ensure that the Government of Canada does not finance or subsidize the sale of CANDU reactors to China or any other country.
[Translation]
The petitioners point out that 38 per cent of the Canadian highway system is not up to standard, and that Mexico and the United States are now improving their national road systems.
(1515)
[English]
The petitioners therefore call on Parliament to urge the federal government to join with the provincial governments to make the national system upgrading possible.
[Translation]
That the federal government join with the provincial governments in making the national system upgrading possible.
[English]
The petitioners, looking forward to February 18, are calling on the government not to increase the excise tax on gasoline in the next budget.
The undersigned residents of Canada draw to the attention of the House that 38 per cent of the national highway system is substandard, that Mexico and the United States are upgrading their national highway systems, that the national highways policy study identified job creation, economic development, national unity, saving lives, avoiding injuries, lower congestion, lower vehicle operating costs and better international competitiveness as benefits of the proposed national highways program. Therefore the petitioners call on Parliament to urge the federal government to join with provincial governments to make the national highway system upgrading possible.
These petitioners request that Parliament not increase the federal excise tax on gasoline in the next federal budget.
These petitioners from all parts of Saskatchewan ask Parliament and provincial governments to zero rate reading materials under the proposed harmonized sales tax and they are asking the Prime Minister to carry out his party's repeated and unequivocal promise to remove federal sales from tax brooks, magazines and newspapers.
The petitioners request that Parliament urge the federal government to join with provincial governments to make the national highway system upgrading a reality as soon as possible.
[Translation]
[English]
The petitioners remind the government that in the last federal budget there was an increase of 1.5 cents per litre and that another2 per cent seems to have been proposed by a parliamentary committee.
Therefore the petitioners ask the federal government not to increase the tax in the next upcoming budget, and I concur with them.
The Speaker: You do not really have to concur one way or the other. I know you know that.
The petitioners are calling on the government to remove GST from books and reading material.
Mr. John Murphy (Annapolis Valley-Hants, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, I rise to present three petitions today. The first two petitions, signed by thousands of my constituents, urge the government to eliminate all sales tax on reading material, including books, magazines and newspapers.
(1520)
These constituents call on Parliament to ensure dedicated AIDS funding beyond March 1998 and to renew the national AIDS strategy now. The national AIDS strategy, phase II, will expire on
March 31, 1998 and there has been no commitment to renew or extend it.
Canada's economy loses more than $1 billion each year because of person years lost to AIDS.
These petitioners are calling on Parliament to urge the federal government to join with provincial governments to make the national highway system upgrading possible.
These petitioners request that Parliament not increase the federal excise tax on gasoline and strongly consider reallocating its current revenues to rehabilitate Canada's crumbling national highways.
Mr. Len Taylor (The Battlefords-Meadow Lake, NDP): Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present a petition pursuant to Standing Order 36 from residents of my constituency, virtually all from the city of North Battleford, with a couple from Spiritwood, Speers and Radisson.
The petitioners note that the availability of a low cost energy source is the natural advantage Canadians have to set off the high cost of transportation because of the great distances required to reach markets, that Canadians are paying approximately 52 per cent of the cost of a litre of gasoline at the pumps in the form of government taxes, that over the past 10 years the excise tax on gasoline has risen some 566 per cent.
The petitioners request that Parliament not increase the federal excise tax on gasoline in the next federal budget.
The petitioners bring to the attention of the House that the rights and freedoms of all Canadians, including the freedom from discrimination, is already protected by Canadian law.
Therefore the petitioners pray and call on Parliament to oppose any amendments to the Canadian Human Rights Act or any other federal legislation that would provide for the inclusion of the phrase sexual orientation.
Whereas Canada and all state parties in the 1969 United Nations Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons reaffirm their commitment May 1995 to undertake and to pursue negotiations in good faith to the cessation of the nuclear arms race, the petitioners pray and request that Parliament support an immediate initiation and conclusion by the year 2000 of an international convention which will set out a binding timetable for the abolition of all nuclear weapons.
The petitioners draw to the attention of Parliament that co-operative housing is one of Canada's great success stories, that it brings people together to meet their housing needs and to create safe and supportive communities.
They express their concerns about transferring the management of this housing to the province of Ontario, calling on Parliament to consider the proposal put forward by the Co-operative Housing Federation to administer these housing communities.
Mr. Speaker, finally-
(1525 )
The Speaker: I think we will have three strikes and you are out.
of northern British Columbia, many of whom reside in my riding of Prince George-Peace River.
The petitioners note that our NAFTA partners, Mexico and the U.S.A., are currently upgrading their national highways system. The petitioners call on Parliament to urge the federal government to join with provincial governments to upgrade our national highway system as soon as possible because they note it is substandard.
The Speaker: Is that agreed?
Some hon. members: Agreed.