Hon. Bob Kaplan (York Centre):

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Reports of the Standing Joint Committee on Regulations and other Statutory Instruments in both official languages.

[Editor's Note: See today's Votes and Proceedings.]

Mr. Nelson A. Riis (Kamloops-Shuswap):

I have the honour to present a petition pursuant to Standing Order 106 from a number of people in Alberta communities, including Grande Prairie, Valleyview, Spirit River and Wembley.

These petitioners are concerned that the federal Government's White Paper on Taxation includes tax reform that would still permit 60,000 profitable corporations to pay no income tax at all and they draw to the attention of Parliament that the federal Government is still planning to levy a tax on food and other essential items through a national sales tax and is also failing to provide full indexation to the personal tax system.

Therefore, they call upon the Government of Canada to reject these proposals and especially reject a tax on food. They are asking consideration for the restoration of full indexation to the personal tax system.

Mr. Jim Manly (Cowichan-Malahat-The Islands):

Mr. Speaker, I have a certified petition from a number of Canadian citizens in a number of locations across Canada pointing out that in February, 1985, the Government ordered the Standing Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs to prepare a report on equality rights in Canada. In October of that year, the subcommittee on equality rights submitted a report to the House recommending that the Canadian Human Rights Act be amended to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in all areas under federal jurisdiction, including the RCMP and Canadian Armed Forces and in age of consent legislation.

In March, 1986, the Government accepted this report and its recommendations, saying it would take whatever measures are necessary to ensure that sexual orientation is a prohibited ground of discrimination. The Government has yet to introduce significant legislation acting upon these recommendations supported by the Government.

The petitioners humbly pray and call upon Parliament to ensure that Government and Parliament act to implement the recommendations contained in the report.

Mr. Alfonso Gagliano (Saint-Leonard-Anjou):

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour of tabling a large number of petitions from the riding of Saint-Leonard-Anjou, from Western Quebec, Ontario, the South Shore and Vancouver, totalling several hundred signatures.

Your petitioners humbly inform the House that Canada Post's new corporate plan has created two classes of citizens by installing its super boxes in urban and rural areas; that closing rural post offices deprives Canadians of a unique federal presence and reduces postal services that are vital to rural areas; and that rate increases, especially for second class mail, jeopardize the distribution by mail of many newspapers, weeklies, regional papers, magazines and religious publications.

Wherefore your petitioners humbly pray that Parliament reject Canada Post's plan and urge the Corporation to deliver the mail to all Canadian taxpayers, without exception.

October 29, 1987

Petitions

REQUEST FOR IMMEDIATE ROY^L ASSENT TO BILL C-22

Mr. Murray Dorin (Edmonton West):

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 106, it is my honour and privilege to present a duly certified petition on behalf of residents of Edmonton, Alberta, most of whom are employed in the pharmaceutical industry. The petitioners call upon Parliament to ensure that the Senate stops delaying the passage of vitally important legislation, namely, Bill C-22.

The petitioners clearly state their desire for the House of Commons, the duly elected body representing the Canadian people, which has passed amendments to the Patent Act, to urge the Senate to stop its stalling tactics in order for the benefits of Bill C-22 to be realized. More than $100 million and several hundred high technology jobs will benefit the Alberta economy. The petitioners are anxious to benefit from the medical advances the legislation will create and they urge immediate Royal Assent of the legislation.

Mrs. Therese Killens (Saint-Michel-Ahuntsic):

Mr. Speaker, the petition 1 am tabling today was signed by residents of Ville Saint-Laurent, Westmount, Saint-Leonard, Ville Mont-Royal, Pierrefonds, Saint-Hubert and Montreal North. Your petitioners deplore the fact that in 1986 over

100,000 people were homeless in Canada; that the number of young people, women and entire families who are homeless is increasing steadily; that the amount of affordable accommodation is still declining; and that the Government has yet to do anything to deal with this problem.

Therefore, your petitioners humbly pray Parliament to take immediate action, so that all Canadians will be housed in accommodation that is sanitary and adequate and to introduce social adjustment programs to help these Canadians in need back into the mainstream of Canadian society.

Mr. Dan Heap (Spadina):

Mr. Speaker, it is my honour and duty to present a petition signed by approximately 525 residents of Metropolitan Toronto who are concerned that the Canadian Embassy in Ecuador has been opened and closed twice in the past 10 years and is now closed, causing hardship to many people seeking visitor or immigration visas to Canada, particularly because the waiting time for an interview at Bogota, the nearest consular point in Colombia, would be about six months.

Therefore, the petitioners humbly pray and call upon Parliament to express support for the reopening of the Canadian Embassy in Ecuador and to urge the Secretary of State for External Affairs (Mr. Clark) to reverse the decision

to close the embassy. As in duty bound your petitioners will every pray.

Mr. Dan Heap (Spadina):

Mr. Speaker, I also have a petition from a number of people in Metropolitan Toronto who are concerned that Bill C-55 threatens Canada's traditional commitment to assisting refugees and sets out measures designed to keep most refugee claimants out of the country as opposed to ensuring that genuine refugee claimants are given protection.

Therefore, the petitioners call upon Parliament to ensure that Government and Parliament will withdraw Bill C-55 and substitute legislation embodying the principles of fair and quick oral hearings of the claims of refugee claimants before a refugee board, independent of the immigration commission, universal access to these hearings for every applicant in Canada and the right to appeal on the basis of fact. In duty bound your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Len Hopkins (Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke):

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present a petition to the House of Commons and Parliament assembled. The undersigned residents of Canada, at Wilno, Ontario, now avail themselves of their ancient and undoubted right thus to present a grievance common to your petitioners in the certain assurance that your House will therefore provide a remedy, and relevantly declares that the Canada Post Corporation has already started reducing services in certain rural areas of Canada.

The Canada Post Corporation intends to continue systematically to close an important number of post offices in small municipalities. The population is firmly opposed to any reduction in the postal personnel and the normal services to which the rural citizens are entitled. The population does not accept and will not accept at any time that the small communities be penalized by the planned reductions.

For those reasons they ask Parliament to give an immediate answer to their request regarding the fact that their rural communities will not have to suffer any form of discrimination to the quality of their postal services. They ask that Parliament agree that the rural municipalities will not be penalized by the closing of their post offices.

They finally ask that the rural communities which have already been badly affected by the reductions will recover the complete postal services to which they were accustomed. The fight for the Wilno post office is the fight of every rural community in Canada. They want to retain those services.

Mr. Speaker:

The Hon. Member for Renfrew-Nipissing- Pembroke (Mr. Hopkins), a senior Member of this place, has presented, as is his right, a petition on behalf of certain Canadians with respect to certain matters. However, I would

October 29, 1987

ask Elon. Members to keep in mind that it has been traditional here, and 1 think it is appropriate, that while some remarks are made giving us some indication of what the subject matter of a petition is, it is not customary to go through the entire petition.

I am sure all Elon. Members would want to co-operate with the Chair on this matter.

Mr. Don Boudria (Glengarry-Prescott-Russell):

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition signed by a very large number of constituents from the riding of Glengarry-Prescott-Russell. Actually, there are 745 signatures. This petition is in addition to a previous petition signed by 250 residents which I tabled in this Elouse. That comes to a grand total of 995 petitioners.

These people are very concerned with internal documents of CN Rail which suggest that this corporation wants to shut down the Alexandria subdivisions in my constituency and the Alderdale subdivision in the riding so well represented by the Hon. Member for Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke (Mr. Hopkins). The petitioners are asking for the Parliament of Canada and the Government to ensure that the Alderdale, Beachburg and Alexandria subdivisions of CN Rail remain open so that the constituency I represent and the constituency the Hon. Member for Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke represents, can keep on having train service so that our industries can continue to prosper. Without this, our areas will be in serious financial difficulty.

Mr. Russell MacLellan (Cape Breton-The Sydneys):

Mr. Speaker, I have quite a few petitions from people in New Brunswick who are opposed to Canada Post's new corporate plan which creates two classes of citizens by installing super boxes on a permanent basis, both in urban and rural areas.

The people all over the province of New Brunswick are extremely concerned. They are asking that the Government reject the corporate plan proposed by Canada Post Corporation and instruct the corporation to proceed with mail delivery to all Canadian taxpayers without discrimination.

Mr. Speaker, the petitions I would like to submit this morning are from a number of citizens in many communities in Ontario, including Scarborough, Agincourt, Don Mills, and Pickering. The petitioners protest the plan on the part of the Government to close rural post offices and ask the Government to reconsider such a decision because of the negative consequences that decision would have.

Mr. Jean-Robert Gauthier (Ottawa-Vanier):

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour and the privilege of tabling, pursuant to

Order Paper Questions

Standing Order 106, a petition that is one in a series of several dozen similar petitions which I have seen as my duty to table, and this petition reads as follows:

Whereas since September, 1984, tlie federal Government has imposed on Canadian taxpayers 25 new taxes or tax increases, in particular on medical and dental supplies, snack foods, candy and soft drinks;

whereas the federal Government in its tax reform proposal is studying the possibility of imposing on Canadians a general tax on goods and services, including food;

whereas food constitutes a vital element in day-to-day life and the imposition of this tax would have the effect of seriously penalizing certain categories of taxpayers such as the aged, families, the unemployed, low-income taxpayers and youth;

wherefore the undersigned petitionners humbly pray and call upon Parliament to reject all measures that would have the effect of imposing a sales tax on food products.

Mr. Speaker:

The Chair has received a request from the Hon. Member for Levis (Mr. Fontaine) that we revert back to presenting reports from committees. The Hon. Member was unable at that time to present the report. The Chair would ask if the Hon. Member has consent of the House to do that.

Mr. Riis:

No.

Agreed.