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Friday, April 23, 2010 (No. 32)

Orders of the Day

Address in Reply to the Speech from the Throne

Address Debate — maximum of 6 appointed days, pursuant to Standing Order 50(1).

Days to be appointed — 3 days.

March 23, 2010 — Resuming consideration of the motion of , seconded by , — That the following Address be presented to Her Excellency the Governor General of Canada:

To Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Chancellor and Principal Companion of the Order of Canada, Chancellor and Commander of the Order of Military Merit, Chancellor and Commander of the Order of Merit of the Police Forces, Governor General and Commander-in-Chief of Canada.

MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY:

We, Her Majesty's most loyal and dutiful subjects, the House of Commons of Canada, in Parliament assembled, beg leave to offer our humble thanks to Your Excellency for the gracious Speech which Your Excellency has addressed to both Houses of Parliament;

And of the amendment of , seconded by , — That the motion be amended by adding the following:

“and offers our humble wish that your Excellency is not burdened in future with frivolous requests for prorogation”.

Voting on the amendment — not later than 30 minutes before the end of the time provided for the Address debate, pursuant to Standing Order 50(5).

Government Orders

Business of Supply

March 3, 2010 — The President of the Treasury Board — Consideration of the Business of Supply.

Supply period ending June 23, 2010 — maximum of 9 allotted days, pursuant to Standing Order 81(10)(c).

Wednesday, April 28, 2010 — 3rd allotted day.

Opposition Motions

March 12, 2010 — — That, in the opinion of this House, the government should immediately restore funding to KAIROS Canada, a development and social justice organization made up of the Anglican Church of Canada, the Christian Reformed Church in North America, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, the Presbyterian Church in Canada, the United Church of Canada, the Religious Society of Friends, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace, and the Mennonite Central Committee of Canada.

March 12, 2010 — — That, in the opinion of this House, the government should immediately introduce legislation that will amend the Canada Post Act and create a Rural Canadian Postal Service Charter that enshrines the following principles: (a) Canada Post will maintain a postal system that allows individuals and businesses in Canada to send and receive mail within Canada and between Canada and elsewhere; (b) Canada Post will provide a service for the collection, transmission and delivery of letters, parcels and publications; (c) the provision of high quality postal services to rural regions of the country is an integral part of Canada Post's universal service; (d) Canada Post Corporation will place and maintain a moratorium on the closure, amalgamation and privatization of rural post offices; (e) Canada Post Corporation will deliver mail at all rural roadside mail boxes that were serviced by that corporation on September 1, 2005; and (f) Canada Post will establish and promulgate complaint resolution processes that are easily accessible to customers and will address complaints in a fair, respectful and timely manner.

March 12, 2010 — — That, in WTO trade negotiations, the government of Canada must strongly defend the principle that so-called state trading enterprises (STE) are not in and of themselves “trade distorting”, and consequently should be permissible and not subject to any discriminatory rules or disciplines, unless and until specific trade distorting behaviour on the part of a specific STE is conclusively determined; and that any action proposed by the government of Canada to diminish the single-desk marketing system of the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) must first be authorized in advance by a fully democratic vote to be held among western Canadian grain producers on a clear “yes/no” question which specifically asks producers to choose between two alternatives, namely the CWB’s single-desk system and a non-CWB open market system.

March 12, 2010 — — That this House condemn the government’s use of all the tactics and tools at its disposal to exercise unwarranted control over institutions that must remain independent of the government in order to aggressively push its conservative ideology, namely Parliament, by abusing the power to prorogue and belittling parliamentary committees; Rights & Democracy, by stacking its Board of Directors; the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, by firing its President for no reason; Elections Canada, by undermining the authority of the Chief Electoral Officer; the courts, by changing how judges are appointed; and the Parliamentary Budget Officer, by refusing to give him the resources he needs to adequately carry out his mandate.

March 12, 2010 — — That, in the opinion of the House, the government should commit immediately to giving the government of Quebec $2.2 billion in compensation for harmonizing the QST and GST.

March 12, 2010 — — That, in keeping with the unanimous decision by the Quebec National Assembly, the House recognize Rights & Democracy for its excellent work around the world, and condemn the government for interfering in the governance of this independent body, in particular by acting against the express wishes of the entire opposition and making a partisan and ideological appointment to the position of Chair, an action that is further proof of this minority government’s aggressive efforts to impose its conservative views.

March 15, 2010 — — That, in the opinion of the House, the government should extend the current freeze on Employment Insurance premium hikes until such time as the historical debt owed to Canadian employers and workers is paid.

March 15, 2010 — — That, in the opinion of the House, the government should take immediate action to address the pension crisis by: (a) calling a National Pension Summit in 2010; (b) improving the Guaranteed Income Supplement to lift all Canadian seniors out of poverty; (c) initiating consultations with the provinces and territories with the goal of phasing in a doubling of the Canada Pension Plan; and (d) amending bankruptcy laws so that pensions are placed in the front of all other creditors in the event of insolvency.

March 15, 2010 — — That this House call on the government to hold a referendum seeking a mandate to propose a constitutional amendment to abolish the Senate.

March 15, 2010 — — That the House express its belief that supply management of agricultural commodities, such as beef, milk, poultry, eggs, barley and wheat, is an integral part of a strong, sustainable rural economy, and reconfirm its continued support for the Canadian Wheat Board as the single desk marketer for wheat and barley.

March 15, 2010 — — That, in the opinion of this House: (a) attempts by the government to balance the books through the sale of valuable public assets are regrettable as they cannot address the existing structural deficit; and (b) sale of public assets by the government should be considered only when it is demonstrated that such sale of assets would be of net long-term benefit to the Canadian public.

March 15, 2010 — — That this House affirm its support for the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons by a renewed commitment to nuclear non-proliferation and a global ban on all nuclear weapons negotiated through a Nuclear Weapons Convention.

March 15, 2010 — — That the House call on the government to recognize Canadians’ right to know and the principle of open government, rather than placing further restrictions on the release of information and opting for increased secrecy, and therefore this House urges the government to introduce within 30 days legislation based on former Information Commissioner John Reid’s draft bill to revise the Access to Information Act, in consultation with the Information Commissioner.

March 15, 2010 — — That, in the opinion of the House, the government should take the following actions in order to avert another crisis similar to the one of 2009 which severely impacted Canadian flax farmers whereby their 2009 flax exports were found to be widely contaminated with a genetically engineered (GE) flax called CDC Triffid, which was not approved in our major export markets and which led to the wholesale rejection of all Canadian flax shipments to the European Union: (a) review the current regulatory process to include consideration of market harm in the approval of unconfined release and confined release of plants with novel traits (genetically engineered plants); (b) institute an immediate moratorium on the confined release and unconfined release of genetically engineered alfalfa pending the outcome of the regulatory review; and (c) report back to Parliament, through the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, the results of the government’s review of the regulatory process within twelve calendar months or at the earliest opportunity following the twelve months if Parliament is not in session.

April 12, 2010 — — That a special committee of the House be hereby established to undertake an immediate study of all relevant issues pertaining to prorogation, including the circumstances in which a request that Parliament be prorogued would be appropriate or inappropriate, and the nature of any rule changes (either by way of the Standing Orders or legislation or both) that may be necessary to avoid any future misuse of prorogation;

that, as part of this study, the committee take into account the specific proposals for new rules pertaining to prorogation offered by the Leader of the Opposition, including: (a) a requirement that the Prime Minister give Parliament written notice in advance of any request to prorogue, together with his/her reasons therefore; (b) a requirement that there be a debate in the House of Commons after any such notice is given, but before any request for prorogation is made; (c) a requirement that the express consent of the House of Commons be obtained at the conclusion of any such debate if (i) fewer than 12 months have passed since the last Speech from the Throne, (ii) the requested prorogation is for a period of more than 30 days, or (iii) an issue of confidence is outstanding before the House; and (d) a provision that allows committees of Parliament to continue to function during any prorogation; and

that the special committee report to the House no later than June 23, 2010.

April 12, 2010 — — That, in the opinion of the House, the 25th anniversary of the coming into force of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms on April 17, 1985, should serve as a reminder that the fundamental freedom of speech must also always ensure the freedom from hate speech or speech that incites violence, particularly when it involves minority communities.

Ways and Means

No. 2 — March 4, 2010 — — Consideration of a Ways and Means motion to amend the Income Tax Act and Income Tax Regulations. — Sessional Paper No. 8570-403-4, tabled on Thursday, March 4, 2010.

No. 3 — March 4, 2010 — — Consideration of a Ways and Means motion to amend the Excise Tax Act. — Sessional Paper No. 8570-403-5, tabled on Thursday, March 4, 2010.

No. 4 — March 4, 2010 — — Consideration of a Ways and Means motion to amend the Customs Tariff. — Sessional Paper No. 8570-403-6, tabled on Thursday, March 4, 2010.

No. 5 — March 4, 2010 — — Consideration of a Ways and Means motion to amend the Universal Child Care Benefit Act. — Sessional Paper No. 8570-403-7, tabled on Thursday, March 4, 2010.

No. 6 — March 4, 2010 — — Consideration of a Ways and Means motion to amend the Income Tax Act, the Excise Tax Act, the Excise Act, 2001, the Air Travellers Security Charge Act, the Canada Pension Plan, and the Employment Insurance Act relating to Online Notices. — Sessional Paper No. 8570-403-8, tabled on Thursday, March 4, 2010.

No. 7 — March 4, 2010 — — Consideration of a Ways and Means motion to amend the Air Travellers Security Charge Act. — Sessional Paper No. 8570-403-9, tabled on Thursday, March 4, 2010.

Government Bills (Commons)

C-4 — April 22, 2010 — Resuming consideration of the motion of , seconded by , — That Bill C-4, An Act to amend the Youth Criminal Justice Act and to make consequential and related amendments to other Acts, be now read a second time and referred to the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights.

C-5 — April 22, 2010 — Resuming consideration of the motion of , seconded by , — That Bill C-5, An Act to amend the International Transfer of Offenders Act, be now read a second time and referred to the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security.

C-8^R — March 29, 2010 — Resuming consideration of the motion of , seconded by , — That Bill C-8, An Act to implement the Free Trade Agreement between Canada and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Agreement on the Environment between Canada and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the Agreement on Labour Cooperation between Canada and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, be now read a second time and referred to the Standing Committee on International Trade.

C-10 — March 29, 2010 — — Second reading and reference to the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs of Bill C-10, An Act to amend the Constitution Act, 1867 (Senate term limits).

C-11^R — March 30, 2010 — — Second reading and reference to the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration of Bill C-11, An Act to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and the Federal Courts Act.

C-12^R — April 1, 2010 — — Second reading and reference to the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs of Bill C-12, An Act to amend the Constitution Act, 1867 (Democratic representation).

C-13^R — April 12, 2010 — — Second reading and reference to the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities of Bill C-13, An Act to amend the Employment Insurance Act.

C-14^R — April 15, 2010 — — Second reading and reference to the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology of Bill C-14, An Act to amend the Electricity and Gas Inspection Act and the Weights and Measures Act.

C-15^R — April 16, 2010 — — Second reading and reference to the Standing Committee on Natural Resources of Bill C-15, An Act respecting civil liability and compensation for damage in case of a nuclear incident.

C-16 — April 22, 2010 — — Second reading and reference to the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights of Bill C-16, An Act to amend the Criminal Code.

Government Bills (Senate)

Government Business

No. 1 — March 12, 2010 — Resuming consideration of the motion of , seconded by , — That this House take note that, while Canada is starting to recover from the global economic recession, the recovery is tentative and uncertain and the number one priority of Canadians remains jobs and economic growth, now and for the future.

No. 2 — April 22, 2010 — Resuming the adjourned debate on the motion of , seconded by , — That it be an instruction to the Standing Committee on Finance that it have the power to divide Bill C-9, An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 4, 2010 and other measures, into two or more pieces of legislation.


^R Recommended by the Governor General

House Publications

Orders of the Day

Address in Reply to the Speech from the Throne

Government Orders

Business of Supply

Ways and Means

Government Bills (Commons)

Government Bills (Senate)

Government Business