9385
ROUTINE PROCEEDINGS
(1505)
[English]
Mr. Paul Zed (Parliamentary Secretary to Leader of the
Government in the House of Commons, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, in
accordance with subsection 198(3) of the Canada Elections Act and
pursuant to Standing Order 32(2) I wish to table, in both official
languages, copies of recent amendments to the federal elections
fees tariff.
Pursuant to Standing Order 32(5) this document should be
deemed permanently referred to the Standing Committee on
Procedures and House Affairs.
* * *
Mr. Paul Zed (Parliamentary Secretary to Leader of the
Government in the House of Commons, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, I am
pleased to table, in both official languages, a number of order in
council appointments which were made by the government.
Pursuant to the provisions of Standing Order 110(1) they are
deemed referred to the appropriate standing committees, a list of
which is attached.
* * *
[Translation]
Mr. Paul Zed (Parliamentary Secretary to Leader of the
Government in the House of Commons, Lib.): Mr. Speaker,
pursuant to Standing Order 36(8), I have the honour to table, in
both official languages, the government's response to 77 petitions.
9386
Mr. Michel Guimond (Beauport-Montmorency-Orléans,
BQ): Mr. Speaker, as chairman of the Standing Committee on
Public Accounts, I have the honour to present to this House the
fifth report of the committee, which conducted a review of Chapter
14 of the auditor general's report, tabled in September 1996 and
dealing with the quality of services.
I simply wish to point out that, as members of the committee, we
strive to ensure that the government provides the best services for
the money paid by Canadian taxpayers. As parliamentarians, we
must also ensure that those responsible for public funds are held
accountable for the judicious use of these funds, in compliance
with the policies adopted by Parliament.
Pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee requests that the
government table a comprehensive response to this report.
* * *
[English]
Mrs. Rose-Marie Ur (Lambton-Middlesex, Lib.) moved for
leave to introduce Bill C-395, an act to amend the Bank Act.
She said: Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure for me to introduce my
private member's bill which would amend the Bank Act by
increasing the amount of disclosure that a bank is required to
provide its customers.
A number of banks in Canada offer their customers certain
benefits which are not available to all of their customers. For
example, some banks offer rebates on services to youth and
seniors. Unfortunately most bank customers are completely
unaware of the benefits to which they are entitled.
I believe my bill would remedy this situation by obligating banks
to give notice to a customer of the bank regarding the benefits to
which he or she is entitled. My bill would also prevent banks from
charging any fee against an inactive bank account unless the bank
first mailed a notice to the customer at least 30 days prior to its
intention to charge the fee.
Taken together I believe these provisions would enhance
consumer protection for Canada's bank customers.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed.)
Mr. Paul Zed (Parliamentary Secretary to Leader of the
Government in the House of Commons, Lib.): Madam Speaker,
if the House gives its consent I move:
That the membership of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs
be modified as follows: Roger Pomerleau for Madeleine Dalphond-Guiral.
(1510 )
The Acting Speaker (Mrs. Ringuette-Maltais): Does the
parliamentary secretary have unanimous consent of the House to
move the motion?
Some hon. members: Agreed.
The Acting Speaker (Mrs. Ringuette-Maltais): Is it the
pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?
Some hon. members: Agreed.
(Motion agreed to.)
* * *
Mr. Janko PeriG (Cambridge, Lib.): Madam Speaker, pursuant
to Standing Order 36 I have the privilege to present to the House
three petitions.
In the first petition 180 citizens of my riding of Cambridge wish
to draw to the attention of the House their concerns for the sanctity
of life.
The petitioners pray and request that the Parliament of Canada
retain current provisions of the Criminal Code prohibiting assisted
suicide and that Parliament not sanction the aiding of suicide or
euthanasia.
Mr. Janko PeriG (Cambridge, Lib.): Madam Speaker, the 400
citizens who signed the second petition firmly believe that our age
of consent laws should be designed to protect children from sexual
exploitation and abuse.
Therefore the petitioners call upon Parliament to amend the
Criminal Code to set the age of consent except within a husband
and wife relationship at the age of 18.
Mr. Janko PeriG (Cambridge, Lib.): Madam Speaker, in the
third petition 270 citizens of my riding of Cambridge wish to draw
to the attention of the House their concerns about the prospect of
the provincial government taking over the administration and
funding of social housing, including housing co-operatives
currently participating in federal housing programs.
9387
For this reason the petitioners pray and request that the
negotiation on social housing with the province of Ontario be
conducted with the input of co-operative housing stakeholders.
I fully agree with all the petitioners.
Mr. Peter Adams (Peterborough, Lib.): Madam Speaker, I
have a petition from several hundred people in Peterborough who
are concerned about co-operative housing.
Parliament is negotiating with all provinces to assume the
administration of social housing. The province of Ontario has not
respected its legal operating agreements and has said publicly that
it wants to sell off public housing.
The petitioners point out that the co-operative housing sector is a
unique and separate entity from all other social housing. Therefore
they call upon Parliament to recognize the co-operative housing
sector as a unique and separate entity from all other social housing.
They ask that Parliament seriously consider the transfer of the
administration of co-operative housing to a non-government
organization as proposed by the Co-operative Housing Federation
of Canada.
Mrs. Daphne Jennings (Mission-Coquitlam, Ref.): Madam
Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36 I am pleased to present
more petitions urging the government to demonstrate its
commitment to education and literacy by eliminating sales tax on
reading materials.
As literacy critic for the Reform Party I must concur with
Canadians that they should not have to pay a tax to read.
The petitions are from Prince George, Quesnel, Grand Forks,
Vancouver, Whistler, Surrey and many other parts of British
Columbia.
Ms. Jean Augustine (Etobicoke-Lakeshore, Lib.): Madam
Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36 I am pleased to present a
number of petitions.
As supporters of literacy the petitioners believe that literacy and
reading are critical to Canada's future and that removing the GST
from reading material will help promote literacy in Canada.
The petitioners call on Parliament to ensure that reading
materials are not taxed under the proposed harmonized sales tax.
Mr. Chuck Strahl (Fraser Valley East, Ref.): Madam Speaker,
I have several petitions to present.
The first one has to do with abortion. It is a sanctity of life
petition where people would like to see the Criminal Code
amended to extend the same protection enjoyed by born human
beings to unborn human beings.
Mr. Chuck Strahl (Fraser Valley East, Ref.): Madam Speaker,
I have three other petitions that are all related to justice issues.
The first one is signed by some 250 people who that want to
increase both minimum and maximum penalties for joy riding or
auto theft, as I prefer to call it.
(1515 )
Mr. Chuck Strahl (Fraser Valley East, Ref.): Madam Speaker,
the second petition has 1,000 names. It is about the need to protect
police dogs. There are only 275 police dogs in Canada and they
cost about $40,000 apiece to train. The petitioners would like to see
more stringent penalties against those who kill a police dog in order
to escape justice. I concur with that.
Mr. Chuck Strahl (Fraser Valley East, Ref.): Madam Speaker,
I have another 2,700 signatures which brings the total to some
33,000 signatures I have received asking that the House of
Commons amend the Criminal Code in several ways to allow for
post-sentence supervision of sex offenders, for public notification
when sex offenders have been released into society, a central
registry including fingerprints, to amend the Criminal Records Act
to prohibit pardons for those convicted of sex offences involving
children and so on. Some 33,000 people have asked that the
government move quickly to look after that problem.
Mr. Nelson Riis (Kamloops, NDP): Madam Speaker, it is my
duty, privilege and honour to rise pursuant to Standing Order 36 to
present a petition on behalf of a number of residents of Kamloops
who call on the Parliament of Canada to urge the Government of
Canada to join with the provincial governments to make a national
highway system upgrading program possible. They urge that be
commenced in 1997.
Mr. Nelson Riis (Kamloops, NDP): Madam Speaker, I have
another petition which brings the total to over 19,000 names of
people who ask the federal government to revoke the decision to
fire 10,000 ad mail workers, to direct Canada Post to stay in the ad
mail and courier business so it can improve rural post office
service, extend door to door delivery by letter carrier and create
jobs at duty post offices.
The petitioners also urge the federal government to keep its
promise to create jobs by supporting the Canadian Union of Postal
Workers and its actions to expand services and to defend and create
more jobs in the postal business.
9388
Mr. Nelson Riis (Kamloops, NDP): Madam Speaker, another
petition is from the residents of Kamloops and a number of nearby
communities pointing out that it is important that the GST be
removed from reading material.
The petitioners state that education and literacy are critical to the
development of our country and that the existing tax is a regressive
tax. They call on the House of Commons to do away with the GST
totally but in particular in this case as it refers to reading material.
Mr. Nelson Riis (Kamloops, NDP): Madam Speaker, a number
of constituents who were very busy over the Easter break call on
the Government of Canada to reconsider providing loans to China
for buying nuclear reactors and nuclear equipment from Canada.
They believe the billion plus dollars in loan guarantees could be
better spent by assisting Canadians.
Mr. Gordon Kirkby (Prince Albert-Churchill River, Lib.):
Madam Speaker, I am honoured to present, pursuant to Standing
Order 36, a petition from the residents of Etobicoke, Whitby,
Mississauga, Oakville, Georgetown, Scarborough, Toronto and
Brampton as well as other communities.
The petitioners call on Parliament to urge the federal
government to join with the provincial governments to make a
national highway system upgrading possible in 1997.
Mr. Gordon Kirkby (Prince Albert-Churchill River, Lib.):
Madam Speaker, I have a petition from people in communities such
as Etobicoke, Mississauga and Toronto as well as others who call
on Parliament to support unequivocally the enlargement of NATO
to include all countries of central and eastern Europe that wish to
join, excluding none.
Mr. Paul Szabo (Mississauga South, Lib.): Madam Speaker, I
have three petitions today. The first comes from Powell River, B.C.
The petitioners would like to draw to the attention of the House that
police officers and firefighters place their lives at risk on a daily
basis as they serve the emergency needs of all Canadians. They also
state than in many cases the families of police officers and
firefighters killed in the line of duty are often left without sufficient
financial means to meet their obligations.
The petitioners therefore pray and call on Parliament to establish
a public safety officers compensation fund to receive gifts and
bequests for the benefit of families of police officers and
firefighters who are killed in the line of duty.
Mr. Paul Szabo (Mississauga South, Lib.): Madam Speaker,
the second petition comes from Kitchener, Ontario. The petitioners
would like to draw to the attention of the House that managing the
family home and caring for preschool children is an honourable
profession which has not been recognized for its value to our
society.
The petitioners therefore pray and call on Parliament to pursue
initiatives to assist families that choose to provide care in the home
for preschool children, the chronically ill, the aged or the disabled.
(1520 )
Mr. Paul Szabo (Mississauga South, Lib.): Madam Speaker,
the final petition comes from Pembroke, Ontario. The petitioners
would like to draw to the attention of the House that the
consumption of alcoholic beverages may cause health problems or
impair one's ability and, specifically, that fetal alcohol syndrome
and other alcohol related birth defects are 100 per cent preventable
by avoiding alcohol consumption during pregnancy.
The petitioners therefore pray and call on Parliament to enact
legislation to require health warning labels to be placed on the
containers of alcoholic beverages to caution expectant mothers and
others of the risks associated with alcohol consumption.
Ms. Marlene Catterall (Ottawa West, Lib.): Madam Speaker,
I am pleased to present a petition from a number of people in the
province of Quebec who call to the attention of Parliament that the
nation is in danger of being torn apart by regional factions.
The petitioners ask Parliament to declare and to confirm
immediately to-
[Translation]
-that Canada is indivisible and that the boundaries of Canada, its
provinces, territories and territorial waters may only be modified
by a free vote of all Canadian citizens as guaranteed by the
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, or through the
amending formula stipulated in the Canadian Constitution.
* * *
[English]
Mr. Paul Zed (Parliamentary Secretary to Leader of the
Government in the House of Commons, Lib.): Madam Speaker, I
ask that all questions be allowed to stand.
The Acting Speaker (Mrs. Ringuette-Maltais): Is that agreed?
9389
Some hon. members: Agreed.
* * *
[Translation]
The Acting Speaker (Mrs. Ringuette-Maltais): I have the
honour to inform the House that René Laurin, member for the
electoral district of Joliette, was appointed as a member of the
Board of Internal Economy replacing Mrs. Dalphond-Guiral,
member for the electoral district of Laval Centre.
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