| October 16, 2013 — Consideration of the motion for an Address in Reply to the Speech from the Throne, — That the following Address be presented to His Excellency the Governor General: |
| To His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Chancellor and Principal Companion of the Order of Canada, Chancellor and Commander of the Order of Military Merit, 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. |
| — October 18, 2013 — Resuming consideration of the motion of , seconded by , — That Bill , , be now read a second time and referred to the ; |
| And of the amendment of , seconded by , — That the motion be amended by deleting all the words after the word “That” and substituting the following: |
| “this house decline to give second reading to Bill C-2, an Act to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, because it: |
| (a) fails to reflect the dual purposes of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA) to maintain and promote both public health and public safety; |
| (b) runs counter to the Supreme Court of Canada's decision in Canada v. PHS Community Services Society, which states that a Minister should generally grant an exemption when there is proof that a supervised injection site will decrease the risk of death and disease, and when there is little or no evidence that it will have a negative impact on public safety; |
| (c) establishes onerous requirements for applicants that will create unjustified barriers for the establishment of safe injection sites, which are proven to save lives and increase health outcomes; and |
| (d) further advances the Minister's political tactics to divide communities and use the issue of supervised injection sites for political gain, in place of respecting the advice and opinion of public health experts.”. |
| R — October 25, 2013 — Resuming consideration of the motion of , seconded by , — That Bill , , be now read a second time and referred to the ; |
| And of the amendment of , seconded by , — That the motion be amended by deleting all the words after the word “That” and substituting the following: |
| “this House decline to give second reading to Bill C-4, A second act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 21, 2013 and other measures, because it: |
| (a) decreases transparency and erodes democratic process by amending 70 different pieces of legislation, many of which are not related to budgetary measures; |
| (b) dismantles health and safety protections for Canadian workers, affecting their right to refuse unsafe work; |
| (c) increases the likelihood of strikes by eliminating binding arbitration as an option for public sector workers; and |
| (d) eliminates the independent Canada Employment Insurance Financing Board, allowing the government to continue playing politics with employment insurance rate setting.”. |
| Second reading stage — 2 sitting days remaining, pursuant to Order made Thursday, October 24, 2013, under the provisions of Standing Order 78(3). |
| No. 3 — October 17, 2013 — Resuming consideration of the motion of , seconded by , — That this House take note of the Canadian economy, and |
| (a) recognize that Canadians' top priority remains economic growth and job creation; and |
| (b) commend the government's economic record which includes the creation of more than one million net new jobs since July 2009, a banking system recognized as the safest and soundest in the world for the past six years, and the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio among G7 countries; |
| And of the amendment of , seconded by , — That the motion be amended by deleting all the words after “job creation; and” and substituting the following: |
| “(b) condemn the Conservatives' economic record, which has resulted in over 1.3 million unemployed Canadians, drastic cuts to Employment Insurance, growing inequality and the dowloading of billions of dollars of costs to individuals and other levels of government; and |
| (c) call on the government to introduce a real plan to create high-quality jobs and combat stagnating wages, provide tax incentives targeted to hire young Canadians, improve retirement security through increased Canada Pension Plan/Quebec Pension Plan benefits, and reduce credit card fees charged to small businesses and Canadian families.”. |