SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 180 - Apr/19/23

Ms. Emmanuella Lambropoulos (Saint-Laurent, Lib.)

Apr/19/23 3:53:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise to present petition e-4350, a petition to the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship. On February 6, 2023, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake was recorded in Turkey and Northern Syria. Over 50,000 are dead and hundreds of thousands injured or left without shelter in freezing conditions. The 742 citizens and residents of Canada who have signed the petition call upon the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship to establish a public policy to facilitate and expedite the granting of permanent resident status to children who were left homeless and who lost at least one parent because of the earthquake. It should also be granted to their accompanying surviving parent or another adult on whom they depend to meet their economic, emotional and social needs. They also call for a public policy to facilitate and expedite the sponsorship under the family class by Canadian citizens or permanent residents of any of their Syrian relatives who identify themselves as being directly affected by the earthquake.

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

Apr/19/23 3:54:54 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-257

Mr. Speaker, I have a few petitions that I will table relatively quickly. The first petition is in support of Bill C-257, which is an excellent private member's bill put forward by me. It seeks to prohibit discrimination on the basis of political activity or belief by adding reference to political belief or activity to the Canadian Human Rights Act. One effect of this is that people could bring human rights complaints against social media companies if they were facing political discrimination by those companies.

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

Apr/19/23 3:55:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the second petition deals with immigration from Hong Kong. In particular, a desire has been expressed to still allow those who have been convicted of political offences as part of political persecution in Hong Kong to come to Canada. However, petitioners note that, in practice, the exemptions given only apply in cases of convictions under the national security law. In many cases, there has been persecution of Hong Kong democracy activists through other means than the national security law. Therefore, petitioners call on the Government of Canada to recognize the politicization of the judiciary in Hong Kong and to affirm its commitment to render all national security law charges and convictions irrelevant and invalid in the context of considering Canadian immigration. It also calls on the government to create a mechanism by which Hong Kong people with pro-democracy movement-related convictions may provide an explanation for such convictions. Based on the explanation, the government can then grant exemptions. Finally, they call for the government to work with other allies to ensure that Hong Kong people are not barred from coming to Canada on the basis of criminal record-related provisions if they were convicted based on political purposes and are not otherwise criminals.

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

Apr/19/23 3:56:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the third petition I am tabling highlights the ongoing detention of Huseyin Celil and asks the government to take a number of steps to secure the release of Mr. Celil. These steps include demanding the recognition of his citizenship, formally highlighting the priority of his release, appointing a special envoy to secure his release and seeking the assistance of the Biden administration.

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

Apr/19/23 3:57:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, next I am tabling a petition that raises significant concerns about recommendations in the Minister of National Defence's advisory panel on systemic racism and discrimination, which produced its final report last year. There are concerns that these recommendations, in fact, are paradoxically discriminatory in that they call for the exclusion of religious clergy from many mainstream denominations on the basis of the government apparently having objections to aspects of their doctrine.

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

Apr/19/23 3:57:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the final petition I am tabling is from those who are strongly opposed to the legalization of child killing in Canada in the name of so-called medical assistance in dying. Petitioners are strongly opposed to proposals to legalize the killing of children by the medical system, and they call on the government to block any attempt to allow the killing of children in Canada.

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Mr. Gord Johns (Courtenay—Alberni, NDP)

Apr/19/23 3:58:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is timely that I am tabling this petition today on behalf of British pensioners who have had their pensions basically frozen through the indexation on pensions by the government of the United Kingdom. These are pensioners who have retired in Canada. It is timely because the Canadian Alliance of British Pensioners is here having its first-ever frozen pension day on the Hill. Its members are calling on Canada to take action. We know these pensioners are losing tens of thousands of dollars over the course of their retirement. With the current inflation crisis, many seniors are having trouble making ends meet. Canada is second only to Australia in its number of U.K. pensioners, with around 144,000 United Kingdom retirees. The indexation of the pensions is entirely dependent on specific agreements between countries, and Canada does not have an indexing agreement or a social security agreement with the U.K. British pensioners living in places such as the U.S., Jamaica and the European Union receive a full U.K. state pension, which is updated annually. These countries have reciprocal social security agreements with the U.K. Even U.K. citizens who continued to pay into their pensions while living outside of the U.K. and who are now living in Canada do not have an indexed pension. Pensions are deferred wages, and they must be able to support the people who rely on them. For some seniors, the lost income can mean retiring in poverty. The Canadian Alliance of British Pensioners has estimated that frozen British pensions cost the Canadian economy close to a billion dollars annually. Therefore, they are calling on the Government of Canada and the House of Commons to negotiate an end to the cost of living index freeze by the government of the United Kingdom for recipients of the British state pension who live in Canada.

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Mr. Mike Morrice (Kitchener Centre, GP)

Apr/19/23 3:59:59 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am proud to table a petition on behalf of over 1,200 people who recognize that, first and foremost, homes should be places for people to live and not commodities for institutional investors to trade. They know that the commodification of housing, including the rapid rise of institutional investors like real estate investment trusts and their holdings, has substantially contributed to the unaffordability of housing and has worsened the housing crisis that we are in. They recognize that REITs comprise some of Canada's largest corporate landlords, which have long received special tax treatment from the federal government. They also note that REITs have grown from owning no rental suites at all in 1996 to nearly 200,000 in 2021. As a result, along with other items, the petitioners call on the Government of Canada to remove the tax exemption for real estate investment trusts and use the revenue that would be generated in doing so to invest in quality, affordable and dignified non-profit and co-operative housing.

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Mr. Arnold Viersen (Peace River—Westlock, CPC)

Apr/19/23 4:01:20 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present petitions signed by Canadians from across the country. They are concerned about the comments from Louis Roy of the Quebec college of physicians. He recommended euthanasia for babies coming into the world with severe deformities or serious syndromes to occur from birth to one year of age. This proposed legalization of the killing of infants has deeply disturbed many Canadians, and they want to make sure that this place understands that infanticide is always wrong. Therefore, they are calling on the Government of Canada to block any attempt to bring this forward.

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Mr. Arnold Viersen (Peace River—Westlock, CPC)

Apr/19/23 4:01:59 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-257

Mr. Speaker, the next petition I have to present is from Canadians from across the country who want to have the right to be protected from discrimination. Canadians can and do face discrimination, and it is fundamental that Canada has the right to be politically active, which is in the best interest of Canadian democracy. They want to ensure that public debate and the exchange of differing ideas continues, and they are asking for Bill C-257 to add protection against political discrimination to the Canadian Human Rights Act. Therefore, the undersigned are calling for the support of this bill to defend the rights of all Canadians to peacefully express their political opinions.

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Mr. Arnold Viersen (Peace River—Westlock, CPC)

Apr/19/23 4:02:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the final petition I have to present today comes from Canadians from across the country who are concerned about the increased risk of violence against women when they are pregnant. Currently, the injury or death of preborn children as victims of crime is not considered an aggravating circumstance in sentencing as proposed in the Criminal Code of Canada. Canada has no abortion law. This legal void is so extreme that we do not even recognize preborn children as victims of crime. Justice requires that an attacker who abuses a pregnant woman and her preborn children be sentenced accordingly. The sentence should match the crime. Therefore, the people who have signed the petition are calling on the House of Commons to legislate the abuse of a pregnant woman and the infliction of harm on her preborn child as an aggravating circumstance for sentencing proposed in the Criminal Code.

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

Apr/19/23 4:03:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the following questions will be answered today: Nos. 1281, 1285, 1287 and 1288.

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Apr/19/23 4:04:05 p.m.
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Question No. 1281—

Questioner: Bonita Zarrillo

With regard to the legislative review of the Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB): (a) what are the details of the engagement and communication plans for the review, including (i) how the public and stakeholders are being consulted, (ii) who has been consulted to date, (iii) who has not yet been consulted and what are the timelines for those consultations to be completed; (b) is any part of the review conducted by external contractors and, if so, by whom; (c) what is the scope of the review and does it include a review of the mandate of the CIB; and (d) what acute issues, if any, were considered when defining the scope of the review mentioned in (c)?

Question No. 1285—

Questioner: Karen Vecchio

With regard to the federal government’s funding of Gymnastics Canada being frozen in July 2022: (a) what was the original reason the government froze this funding; and (b) despite allegations of abuse and maltreatment within the sport still being unsettled, has this funding been reinstated and, if so, (i) on what date, (ii) for what reason?

Question No. 1287—

Questioner: Brad Vis

With regard to Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada and the government’s 50-30 Challenge: (a) how many organizations applied to be a 50-30 Challenge Ecosystem Partner; (b) how were the five successful candidates chosen as Ecosystem Partners; (c) how was the distribution of the $28.5 million funding to the Ecosystem Partners determined; (d) how are the Ecosystem Partners expected to spend their funding and what accountability mechanisms are in place; (e) how many dollars have been spent on the 50-30 Challenge by the Ecosystem Partners as of March 1, 2023; (f) what projects and supports to the 50-30 Challenge have been made available to 50-30 Challenge participants to meet their diversity and inclusion goals; (g) what are the Ecosystem Partners expected to achieve; and (h) how will the government track the success rate of the 50-30 Challenge?

Question No. 1288—

Questioner: Louise Chabot

With regard to the amendments to the Canada Labour Code respecting fair treatment as regards wages, more specifically the changes concerning equal treatment provided by the Budget Implementation Act 2018, No. 2, S.C., c. 27, in sections 452 and 461 of Subdivision A of Division 15 of Part 4 of the Act: (a) has the department finished its consultations on the development of regulations; (b) can we have a summary of the report on these consultations; (c) has the department started drafting the regulations; and (d) has a date or timeline for the coming into force of this provision been set and, if so, what is this date?

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

Apr/19/23 4:04:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, furthermore, if the government's responses to Question No. 1286 could be made an order for return, this return would be tabled immediately. The Speaker: Is that agreed? Some hon. members: Agreed.

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Apr/19/23 4:04:19 p.m.
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Question No. 1286—

Questioner: Maxime Blanchette-Joncas

With regard to government expenditures in the electoral districts of Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane–Matapédia, Manicouagan, Montmagny—L’Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine, and Papineau, for fiscal years 2020-21 and 2021-22, broken down by electoral district: (a) what is the total amount for each fiscal year; (b) what is the detailed breakdown of the amounts in (a) by department, Crown corporation, agency or organization; and (c) what are the grants and contributions made, broken down by funding source?

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Mr. Kevin Lamoureux

Apr/19/23 4:04:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would ask that all remaining questions be allowed to stand at this time. The Speaker: Is that agreed? Some hon. members: Agreed.

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

Apr/19/23 4:04:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would ask that all notices of motions for the production of papers also be allowed to stand at this time. The Speaker: Is that agreed? Some hon. members: Agreed.

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The Deputy Speaker

Apr/19/23 4:04:30 p.m.
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The hon. member for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes is rising on a point of order.

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Mr. Michael Barrett

Apr/19/23 4:04:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to inform the House that the interim Ethics Commissioner has resigned that role, effective today. As a result, there are decisions that the office cannot proceed with, which are based upon functions that only the commissioner can undertake. After the politicization of that role by the Liberal government, the office remains paralyzed. The official opposition invites the government to meaningfully consult with recognized parties on an appointee whose appointment avoids even the appearance of a conflict of interest.

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The Deputy Speaker

Apr/19/23 4:05:15 p.m.
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That was not a point of order, but I will take it under advisement.

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