House of Commons Debates VOLUME 148 Ï NUMBER 183 Ï 1st SESSION Ï 42nd PARLIAMENT OFFICIAL REPORT (HANSARD) Tuesday, May 30, 2017 Speaker: The Honourable Geoff Regan CONTENTS (Table of Contents appears at back of this issue.) 11617 HOUSE OF COMMONS Tuesday, May 30, 2017 The House met at 10 a.m. COMMITTEES OF THE HOUSE HEALTH Prayer Mr. Bill Casey (Cumberland—Colchester, Lib.): Madam Speaker, it is my pleasure and honour to present, in both official languages, the 10th report of the Standing Committee on Health in relation to Bill C-211, an act respecting a federal framework on post- ROUTINE PROCEEDINGS traumatic stress disorder. After some incredible testimony and impressive witnesses with emotional stories to tell, the committee Ï (1005) has studied the bill and decided to report the bill back to the House [English] with amendment. HEALTH PUBLIC ACCOUNTS Hon. Jane Philpott (Minister of Health, Lib.): Madam Speaker, Hon. Kevin Sorenson (Battle River—Crowfoot, CPC): Madam today I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the federal framework on Lyme disease in Canada, pursuant to the 27th report of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, entitled Federal Framework on Lyme Disease Act, which will now be “Report 4, Oversight of Passenger Vehicle Safety, of the Fall 2016 referred to the Standing Committee on Health in accordance with Reports of the Auditor General of Canada”. Standing Order 32(5). [Translation] Pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee requests that the government table a comprehensive response to this report. I would like to begin by stating that our government recognizes the impact that Lyme disease has had and continues to have on [Translation] Canadians and their families and appreciates the hard work of all who contributed to the framework. PUBLIC SAFETY AND NATIONAL SECURITY [English] Mr. Robert Oliphant (Don Valley West, Lib.): Madam Speaker, today I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the Through last year's conference to develop a federal framework on 10th report of the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Lyme disease and the recent public consultation period for the initial Security, entitled “Main Estimates 2017-18”. draft of the framework, we have heard very clearly that there is a desire for action. We considered the perspectives and feedback and *** have developed the federal framework on Lyme disease in Canada. It is now available online at canada.ca/lymedisease. [English] [Translation] INCOME TAX ACT The framework sets out the federal government's role with respect Mr. Don Davies (Vancouver Kingsway, NDP) moved for leave to surveillance, education and awareness, and guidelines and best to introduce Bill C-356, An Act to amend the Income Tax Act practices. The Government of Canada is also committed to investing (donations to food banks). in research to better understand the causes and transmission of Lyme disease. He said: Madam Speaker, I am honoured to rise to introduce an [English] important bill to Canadians. This legislation would reduce food waste and hunger in our communities by creating a tax incentive to Over the coming days, I look forward to providing further encourage food producers, suppliers, and retailers to donate food to information about the actions we will be taking under the federal charities. I would like to thank the hon. member for Vancouver East framework on Lyme disease in Canada. for seconding this bill. 11618 COMMONS DEBATES May 30, 2017 Routine Proceedings This bill is a result of the vision of two thoughtful high school At the outset, Madam Speaker, I will let you know that I will be students from my riding of Vancouver Kingsway, Gaelan Emo and sharing my time with my colleague from Rosemont—La Petite- June Lam from Windermere Secondary. June and Gaelan are this Patrie, who has done excellent work on this file and is joined by tens year's winners of my annual Create your Canada contest held in high of thousands of Canadians who have also contributed their hearts, schools across Vancouver Kingsway. They identified the need to their ideas, and their hopes and aspirations into this issue, into this reduce the 31 million pounds of food wasted in Canada every year most fundamental idea that, when we vote for something, we would and lend a hand to the 13% of Canadians who live in food insecurity. get it; that when we put our ballot in the ballot box expressing our This is a smart economic policy and a progressive social initiative. wish for the future, which is what a vote is, and there has been a promise made, the promise will be kept. I hope that all parliamentarians will help them realize their vision for a better Canada and support this excellent bill. We have watched the long and somewhat tortured saga of the (Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed) story around electoral reform in the government for many months, 18 or 20 months or more, in which we had the opportunity to do *** something. We still have that opportunity to do something quite Ï (1010) remarkable in restoring the hope and trust that Canadians have in [Translation] their politics, in their governance, and in their way of doing things here in Parliament. MAIN ESTIMATES 2016-17—CANADIAN HERITAGE The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes): The Perhaps what we are attempting to do here today with this vote on following motion in the name of the hon. Leader of the Opposition is the electoral reform committee's work is to have Liberals keep their deemed adopted: promise. Some have said that is one of the trickiest jobs in politics. That, pursuant to Standing Order 81(4)(b), consideration by the Standing The evidence is quite strong that this is a hard thing to do sometimes, Committee on Canadian Heritage of all Votes under Department of Canadian yet I have a great amount of hope, shared by many Canadians, that Heritage in the Main Estimates for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2018, be this can be done. The reason many of us got into elected office in the extended beyond May 31, 2017. first place was to be able to lift up our communities, to keep our (Motion agreed to) word when it is made, and to not break promises casually. *** That has not so far been the case with this particular issue, but let [English] us walk through the timeline, because it is quite a story and it takes a COMMITTEES OF THE HOUSE bit to get through. The Prime Minister, as a candidate and then as Prime Minister, made a very clear commitment again and again— HUMAN RESOURCES, SKILLS AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND THE hundreds of times, in fact—that the 2015 election would be the last STATUS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES election under the first-past-the-post system. He made it so many Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Parliamentary Secretary to the times that Canadians can recite it themselves, and it was not just the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.): Prime Minister, but every Liberal who stood for office, and every Madam Speaker, there have been consultations among the parties, Liberal who was elected was elected on that promise. and I believe you would find agreement for the following motion: That, notwithstanding any Standing Order or usual practice of the House, the debate We in the New Democrats, the Conservatives, the Bloc, and the pursuant to Standing Order 66 on Motion No. 12 to concur in the Third Report of the Green Party moved in good faith forward on this exercise not out of Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the any sense of naïveté or lack of information, but simply because a Status of Persons with Disabilities, be deemed to have taken place, and that the said promise so clear, so black and white, repeated so often by the leader report, presented on Wednesday, June 15, 2016, be deemed concurred in on division. of a country, ought to mean something. This issue is clearly about The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes): Does the electoral reform itself, about the idea of making every vote count hon. parliamentary secretary have the unanimous consent of the from all Canadians regardless of where they live in the country. That House to move the motion? is an essential part of this conversation, so that people do not have to vote strategically or cynically or out of fear, but simply vote for what Some hon. members: Agreed. they want, vote for the candidate they want and have that vote mean The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes): The something. House has heard the terms of the motion. Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion? We know that virtually all successful democracies around the world have evolved their way of voting over time to make votes Some hon. members: Agreed. more effective, to not have situations like we did in the last election (Motion agreed to) where 18 million votes were cast, but less half of them actually went toward electing anybody in this place. The average vote required to ELECTORAL REFORM elect a Liberal MP was 38,000, another 20,000 to elect a Mr. Nathan Cullen (Skeena—Bulkley Valley, NDP): Madam Conservative, more than 20,000 to elect a New Democrat or Bloc, Speaker, I move that the third report of the Special Committee on and 600,000-plus votes to elect a single Green member. Clearly, with Electoral Reform presented on Thursday, December 1, 2016, be a range of 38,000 to 600,000, even a small child can understand the concurred in.