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Mr. Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, CPC)

Dec/14/21 10:19:05 a.m.
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Re: Bill S-223

Mr. Speaker, I have a number of petitions to present today. The first petition is with respect to Bill S-223. This is a bill on forced organ harvesting and trafficking, which a number of colleagues have tabled petitions on already. This is the same bill that was put forward in each of the last two Parliaments, and the bill has already passed the Senate. Petitioners are calling on the government and the House of Commons to work together to finally pass legislation to prohibit forced organ harvesting and trafficking, and to prohibit Canadians from going abroad to receive an organ taken without consent.

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Mr. Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, CPC)

Dec/14/21 10:19:05 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the next petition highlights the persecution of Uighurs and other Turkic Muslims in China. It outlines a number of the abuses they have faced: birth suppression, political and religious indoctrination, arbitrary detention, separation of children from families, invasive surveillance, destruction of cultural sites, forced labour and forced organ harvesting. Petitioners want to see stronger engagement from Parliament, as well as from the government, in response to these issues. The House of Commons has recognized that Uighurs face genocide. However, the government has not been willing to take that step. Petitioners call on the government to formally recognize that Uighurs and other Turkic Muslims in China have been and are being subjected to genocide, and to use the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act, the Magnitsky act, to sanction those responsible for heinous crimes committed against the Uighur people.

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Mr. Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, CPC)

Dec/14/21 10:27:12 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the next petition I am tabling is with respect to the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China. Petitioners note the ongoing persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, including organ harvesting as part of that persecution, and that extensive evidence points to 14 key officials and former officials of the Chinese Communist regime who demonstrate primary culpability in human rights atrocities committed against Falun Gong practitioners. Petitioners call on the government to deploy all legal sanctions, including freezing assets and barring entry to Canada, against perpetrators involved in these abuses. They want to see the government use the Magnitsky act to target those who have been involved in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.

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Mr. Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, CPC)

Dec/14/21 10:27:12 a.m.
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Re: Bill C-287

Madam Speaker, the next petition highlights the situation of the Hazara people in Afghanistan. This particular petition was certified prior to the Taliban takeover, and there were significant human rights concerns about the violence against the Hazara community in Afghanistan, which goes back a very long time. The Hazara community has experienced successive waves of violence. The situation is particularly dire now for the Hazara community, as well as for Sikhs, Hindus, Christians and other minority communities in Afghanistan. This petition, in particular, is calling on the government to formally recognize the 1891-93 ethnic cleansing perpetuated against the Hazaras as genocide and to designate September 25 as a Hazara genocide memorial day. The petition also supports Bill C-287 from the last Parliament, which aimed at ensuring development assistance was always contributing to the advancement of peace and security and focusing on the well-being of all individuals, including minority communities.

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Mr. Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, CPC)

Dec/14/21 10:27:12 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the final petition I am tabling today highlights the situation of the energy sector and the fact that the Trans Mountain expansion project would create many jobs and new opportunities for Canadians. It also highlights the benefit of Canadian energy and calls on the government to support the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline. I commend all of these important petitions to the consideration of members.

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Mr. Peter Julian

Dec/14/21 10:27:49 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. As you know, Standing Order 36(6) gives a maximum of 15 minutes for petitions. There are 338 members of Parliament. If one member of Parliament is able to monopolize half of that time, which is what just happened, unfortunately other members of Parliament may not be able to present their petitions. I would ask you continue what has been our normal practice, which is to allow members of Parliament to present a handful of petitions, maybe two or three, and then move on to other members of Parliament in order to avoid one member of Parliament taking half of the 15 minutes allotted to petitions.

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Mr. Garnett Genuis

Dec/14/21 10:28:36 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I rise on the same point of order. Respectfully, I believe the NDP House leader may not have noticed, but I actually went last. All of the other members who wanted to table petitions went before me. Also, the member will also know the standing order prescribes a limited amount of time per petition, and I think I exercised a greater economy of words per petition than members of his own caucus have. I cannot help that I have an active constituency and many people who want me to raise issues in the House.

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

Dec/14/21 10:29:04 a.m.
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We have another point of order from the hon. member for Vancouver Kingsway. I have heard enough, but I will allow the hon. member to speak to this. I will then add to it.

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Mr. Don Davies

Dec/14/21 10:29:28 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, speaking to this point of order, there was another member in the House who had risen to present petitions before the hon. member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, and the Speaker did not see him. However, in 13 years in Parliament, I have never seen one member abuse a rule like this and dominate by taking 15 minutes to introduce 10 or 12 petitions. Other members of the House also have very active constituencies and also would like to introduce petitions. I would ask my hon. colleague to exercise some restraint and maybe show some respect for his colleagues.

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

Dec/14/21 10:30:08 a.m.
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Before I go to any other points of order, I will indicate that there is still some time remaining. There are 15 minutes allocated for petitions. The rules regarding petitions do not indicate whether one, two or 10 petitions can be tabled. The rules do specifically indicate that, when presenting petitions, the presentations be as short and succinct as possible, and that individuals do not read the whole petition to allow for others. There is still time for other individuals to present petitions. In my view, I would like to move on so that we can get on with the business of the day and recognize the next member who wishes to pose a petition. I have another point of order. If it is on the same point of order, I have just ruled on it. It would be best not to continue going there. I do not think it is wise for members to indicate that one member is taking up a lot of time. We know that individuals are very passionate about their petitions and so are Canadians. That is why we have tabling of petitions in the House. The hon. member for Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies.

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Mr. Bob Zimmer

Dec/14/21 10:31:48 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I really did not want to get up to speak, but after those comments from the NDP I would point out that petitions are not just from us as parliamentarians. We are representing our constituents, who are bringing their petitions to us to present to the House. It is their way to connect themselves to the House. I would just reiterate that and commend our member who brought that voice forward to the House this morning.

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

Dec/14/21 10:32:11 a.m.
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I appreciate the added information, which is basically what I had just indicated. Presenting petitions, the hon. member for St. Albert—Edmonton.

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Mr. Michael Cooper (St. Albert—Edmonton, CPC)

Dec/14/21 10:32:24 a.m.
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Re: Bill S-223

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to introduce a petition signed by Canadians who are concerned about forced human organ harvesting. In particular, the petitioners call upon Parliament to see the speedy passage of Bill S-223, which seeks to amend the Criminal Code as well as the Immigration, Refugee Protection Act to prevent Canadians from travelling abroad to acquire human organs that were removed without consent or as a result of a financial transaction.

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Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)

Dec/14/21 10:33:20 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would ask that all questions be allowed to stand at this time.

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

Dec/14/21 10:33:24 a.m.
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Is that agreed? Some hon. members: Agreed.

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Mr. Chris Bittle (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Lib.)

Dec/14/21 10:33:51 a.m.
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Re: Bill C-5

Madam Speaker, though I have been on my feet a number of times in this Parliament it is my first formal speech, so I would like to take a moment to give my thanks. Representing the people of St. Catharines in this place has been the greatest honour of my life. I want to thank the voters, my supporters and everyone who helped on the campaign. For all of us here there is one name on the ballot, but we know it takes dozens of people behind the scenes. Though we all have differences of opinion, I know that everyone comes to this place to work hard for the betterment of their constituents, and I commit that to my constituents and the people of St. Catharines. Even though there are far too many people to thank, I want to say a special thanks to my team: Sam, Sara, Zack, Romy and Cass, who were there with me behind the scenes. They are an incredible team and I am so fortunate. The people of St. Catharines are fortunate to have them working for them. I would be remiss if I did not also thank a standout volunteer on my campaign, Alice, who did some incredible work for us and helped us get to where we are. I thank her so much. I was in the House yesterday and listened to some of the debate. I was reminded of a dinner I was at, probably about 10 to 15 years ago. A children's mental health organization in our region was presenting its first ever hope award to a local member of the community who was outstanding in terms of delivering on mental health and addiction. I believe the recipient that year was Dr. Robin Williams, who is a long-time pediatrician. She was my pediatrician when I was young. She eventually became a medical officer of health and is a passionate advocate for mental health, especially children's mental health. At that time, the House of Commons was debating significant changes to the Criminal Code. A “lock them up and throw away the key” approach had unfortunately made its way through, and Dr. Williams was concerned by this. I remember her looking down from the podium, after accepting the award, at the Conservative member of Parliament at the time. She said, “Please give me a fraction of what you intend to spend on building prisons and I promise I will lower the crime rate. Locking them up and throwing away the key does not work”. The same member of Parliament Dr. Williams pleaded with was later sitting in committee. In one of our first studies at the justice committee after the 2015 election, we were discussing the overrepresentation of indigenous people in federal prisons. I believe more than 20% of the prison population is indigenous people, yet indigenous people are 5% or less of the Canadian population. I expressed some concern. That same member, when he had an opportunity to question a witness, said that the system was working: People in jail meant the system was working. It was not. We have fought the war on drugs for a long time now. Almost for my entire life we have been fighting this war, and we have lost it. I do not know if there is a member here who can stand and say that this has been a successful public policy adventure for any level of government in any country. It heartens me a bit when I finally see Conservative members get up to talk about the opioid crisis and about a three-digit suicide phone number that people can call, but there is no connection. That is a great initiative and I truly hope to see it in the immediate future, but there is no connection to broader policy concerns. There is no connection to the systemic racism that exists. There is no connection to our criminal justice system in which people with mental health disorders and concurrent disorders, that is addiction and mental health disorders at the same time, are overrepresented. Members of the Conservative Party call for more mandatory minimum penalties and say that they are effective tools of government. If we look to the United States, it is a laboratory for mandatory minimum penalties. Canada has done it and it has not worked. Let us look to the United States and pick whatever state hon. members want to. It has not worked. If mandatory minimum penalties worked as a significant tool of deterrence, the United States would be the safest country in the world. I do not know that anyone here is willing to stand and say that, in terms of drug or firearms offences. It is significant. We even see right-wing politicians in the United States finally saying enough is enough. As significant percentages of their states' budgets and the federal prison budget are exploding and not producing public safety, questions need to be asked: Why is this not working and what is happening here? Judges in the United States often have zero discretion in terms of what they do, but I know in Canada we have a significant respect for our judiciary.

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

Dec/14/21 10:40:40 a.m.
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I want to remind members that when somebody has the floor, the member deserves the respect to be allowed to give his speech so hon. members are able to draft their questions when it is time for questions and comments. I would ask that there be no heckling or yelling across the floor. The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage has three minutes remaining.

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Noise/conversations/heckling, interrupting Member speaking

Mr. Bob Zimmer

Dec/14/21 10:40:40 a.m.
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Re: Bill C-5

I don't even know what I'm saying.

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Mr. Chris Bittle

Dec/14/21 10:40:40 a.m.
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Re: Bill C-5

I know the hon. member wants to take off his mask to heckle. He is so upset by the discussion of this topic and—

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Mr. Chris Bittle

Dec/14/21 10:41:06 a.m.
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Re: Bill C-5

Madam Speaker, it is disappointing that the hon. member for Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies would remove his mask to yell and heckle. It is not his opportunity. I do not know what the animosity is. We have failed. Liberal and Conservative governments have successively failed on this file. It is time to right the wrongs on this. It has not worked. It does not make us safer. Time after time it has been promised to Canadians that mandatory minimums will make us safer, and they have not. In the speeches I have heard from members of the Conservative Party, we have not heard the decisions by the Supreme Court of Canada that have struck down mandatory minimums along the way because they lead to a lack of judicial autonomy. We have a great deal of respect for the judiciary in this country. Even as a lawyer in St. Catharines, I commended the Harper government at the time for the quality of the judges it appointed in Niagara. I know there is some criticism of the types of people who get appointed to the bench, but I have never seen anyone stand in this place and say the individuals appointed by the minister of justice were unqualified. We have a high-quality bench, and judicial discretion needs to be at the heart of things. Things come up. We cannot focus on every aspect of an event or every likely outcome, so why do we not leave that trust in judges? All members of the House want their communities to be safe, and mandatory minimums seem counterintuitive. We think they have to work: I am a law-abiding citizen and I do not want to go to jail for a set period of time. They work. Study after study shows that they do not. There is a suggestion on the other side that Liberals do not want this, but I think every member of the House believes it. It is insulting to say we do not. If people commit serious offences under the changes that are proposed to the Criminal Code, they will receive serious penalties. That is fundamental and part of judicial discretion. Aggravating and mitigating factors are important parts of our sentencing structure, even when mandatory minimums do not exist. Though it may not seem like it, mandatory minimums actually reduce sentences. If we look at the studies, judges see them as a ceiling, not a floor.

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