Petitions

Monster Budget

• The Conservatives put almost all of their legislative agenda into one bill for both the fall and spring sessions.
• By forcing the omnibus bills through the House of Commons, which are so long, too wide reaching to be properly studied, debated, and amended, and which rewrite numerous Canadian laws, Conservatives are ignoring the concerns of Canadians, and have mastered the art of circumventing the democratic process.
• These two bills; Bill C-38, and C-45 are over 400 pages each, and involve cutting OAS, EI, and health-care funding, gutting environmental assessment rules such as eliminating wildlife habitat protection, and rewriting the Fisheries Act.
• They are also reducing the powers of the Auditor General, dissolving the Public Appointment Commission, gutting food safety inspections, reducing support for job-creating research and development, and shrinking oversight of the government.
• This petition calls on the Government of Canada to halt the practice of introducing omnibus legislation to avoid its democratic accountability to Canadians.

Parks Canada

• There have been cuts of 29 million dollars, forcing parks to reduce hours, cancel activities, and lay off over 600 employees, including scientists and technicians who help to protect Canada’s parks and monitor their ecological health.
• This will lead to shorter seasons, more restricted access to national parks and historic sites, as well as imposing higher entry, camping, boating, and fishing fees.
• Parks Canada plays a major role in conserving biodiversity threatened by the growth of urbanization, education, and the promotion of Canada’s natural, and historical heritage. This could be hurt by the privatization of numerous services, as well as the implementation of projects by private companies.
• The Government of Canada needs to comply with the Canada National Parks Act, which stipulates that “The national parks of Canada are hereby dedicated to the people of Canada for their benefit, education and employment” and that “maintenance or restoration of ecological integrity shall be the first priority of the Minister,” by restoring the funding necessary to maintain the range of services offered, cancelling the increase in entrance fees, and ensuring the operation of services offered on Parks Canada sites.

 Health Care

•  Canadians support their public health care system, and want to ensure every Canadian has the same high-quality health services wherever they live.
•  Conservatives are cutting 36 billion dollars in provincial and territorial health transfers without consulting them.
•  Achieving the goal of public health care requires stronger federal leadership, with increased investment, coordination, and innovation to establish:
•  A pan-Canadian drug strategy that reduces the amount Canadians must pay for medications.
• Funding transfers to provinces and territories enabling them to provide consistently high-quality home, and long term care services, as well as improving the role of health care professionals.
• A pan-Canadian Health Human Resources Strategy to improve access to primary care in urban, and rural communities.
• Improved living conditions including access to food, housing, a living wage, and social and mental health services, as well as better living conditions for Aboriginal peoples.
•  We call on the Canadian Government to fully cooperate with provinces and territories to negotiate a new Health Accord by 2014 that improves health care services through stronger federal leadership, backed by long-term and stable health care funding.

 Shale Gas

•  Shale gas exploration and development in Canada is done using hydraulic fracturing (fracking), a process that injects millions of litres of water laced with a huge number of chemicals underground at a high pressure. The environmental and health effects of hydraulic fracturing are not yet known, and will not be known for many more months, or even years.
•  Conservatives need to act in the interest of Canadians, and not that of the oil industry.
•  There are risks of water pollution, and earthquakes as seen by an Alberta well blowout, and Ohio earthquake, which were caused by the mining.
•  Petitioners call upon the House of Commons to meet the following requests:

 a) That an in-depth analysis be performed immediately on all the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing for shale gas, and that companies be required to publicly disclose which chemicals they use.

b) That a study on the risks to and effects on human health be undertaken by Health Canada, and that across Canada public consultation be held on hydraulic fracturing for shale gas, especially in effected communities.

c) That federal legislation be reviewed, especially the Canada Water Act, and the Canadian Environmental Act, in order that the provisions governing the protection of drinking water and water resources are adequate.

 National Housing Strategy

Bill C-400; Act to ensure secure, adequate, accessible, and affordable Housing for all Canadians

•  Nearly 1.5 million households, almost 13% of all Canadian households are in core housing need.
•  According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, access to affordable housing is a fundamental right and not a privilege (paragraph 25).
•  Canada is the only industrialized country that doesn’t have a national housing strategy. The development of affordable housing remains key to countering poverty and homelessness.
•  It would help to prevent situations of homelessness and vulnerability among Canadian women, as well as other groups.
•  We, the undersigned, call upon the House of Commons to pass Bill C-400 and give Canada a national housing strategy.

 Protecting the Water and Public Health of Rural Communities

•  More than 25% of Canadians do not have access to municipal sewer systems, and use stand-alone septic tanks for their homes. In rural areas, a large number of septic systems of isolated dwellings are outdated, and need to be brought up to standard, work that is both important, and urgent.
•  This situation poses a significant potential risk to the water quality in these areas.
•  Because of the high cost of the work, some residents are delaying bringing their systems up to standard, which means an increased risk to water quality, and public health.
•  The federal government supports the municipalities that need to build or repair their waste water systems.
•  It allows for rural homeowners, who would otherwise have insufficient funds to upgrade their septic systems to do so, so they meet environmental standards.
•  We, the undersigned, call upon the House of Commons to support motion M-400 to protect the water and public health of our rural communities.

 National Public Transit Strategy

•  Canada is the only OECD country that does not have a national public transit strategy.
•  It is estimated that over the next five years there will be an 18 billion dollar gap in transit infrastructure needs.
•  The government should show leadership on repairing crumbling infrastructure, reducing commute times, and improving Canada’s lagging productivity.
•  21% of Canadian municipal roads are in poor condition, and commute times in our largest cities are among the worst in G8 countries (Federation of Canadian Municipalities).
•  Cities like Toronto need a non-partisan plan with secure support for at least 20 years.
•  We, the undersigned, call upon the government of Canada go enact a Canada Public Transit Strategy, which seeks to:

                      Provide a permanent investment plan to support public transit.

                      Establish federal funding mechanisms for public transit.

• Work together with all levels of government to provide sustainable, predictable, long term, and adequate funding.
• -Establish accountability measures to ensure that all governments work together to increase access to public transit.

 Cuts on Science and Technology

•  Decisions made by the federal government should be based on sound and objective scientific data.
•  Cancelling research projects and monitoring will have a negative impact on the environment, the economy, and the health of Canada.
•  Scientists must be allowed to express themselves freely, and to carry out their work unfettered by political constraints. Researchers now have to get approval from the minister before publishing their research. Since the Conservatives came to power, scientists have often been barred from talking to the media or general public without obtaining consent from the Prime Minister’s office.
•  International scientists are now refusing to work with Canada.
•  Laying off hundreds of scientists threatens Canada’s ability to monitor whether it has achieved its various international commitments.
•  Your petitioners call upon the Government of Canada to end its muzzling of scientists; to reverse the cuts to research programs at Environment Canada, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada; and to cancel the closures of the National Council of Welfare and the First Nations Statistical Institute.

 National Dementia Strategy

•  Canada needs a national strategy for dementia, and the health care of persons afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease or other dementia-related diseases.
•  The number of Canadians with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias is rising sharply, and will double to 1.4 million by 2031. Canada’s health care system is not equipped to deal with the costs.
•  There is growing pressure on family caregivers, who spend numerous unpaid hours caring for those with dementia.
• Health care providers, politicians, and policy makers need to focus on increasing funding for research into all aspects of dementia: promoting earlier diagnosis and intervention, strengthening the integration of primary home and community care, enhancing skills and training of the dementia workforce, and recognizing the needs, and improving supports for caregivers.
•  Your petitioners call on the Minister of Health and the House of Commons to pass Bill C-356, and Act respecting a National Strategy for Dementia, introduced by Claude Gravelle, MP for Nickel Belt. The strategy includes requiring the Minister to:

 a)Initiate discussion within 30 days after the Act comes into force with provincial, and territorial ministers to develop a comprehensive national plan to address all aspects of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD).

b)Develop specific national objectives to improve the situation of persons with ADRD and decrease its burden on Canadian society.

c)Provide annual reports based on annual assessment of Canada’s progress to meeting those objectives that includes recommendations as to which remedial actions should be given priority.

d)Establish a standing round table to receive advice from Canadians on the national strategy.

e)Encourage greater investment in ADRD research and discovery and development of treatments that would prevent, halt, or reverse ADRD.

f)Make recommendations on ways to support and strengthen Canada’s capacity to care for persons with dementia.

 Alberta Pipeline

•  Kinder Morgan is proceeding with plans to build a new heavy oil pipeline from Alberta to Burnaby, British Columbia bringing the company’s total pipeline capacity to 850, 000 barrels per day.
• This new pipeline will pass through densely populated areas in Burnaby, Port Moody, Coquitlam, Surrey, Kamloops, and the territories of 80 First Nations.
•  The new pipeline brings massive environmental and economic risk, but no substantial benefit to British Columbia and it will impact all municipalities in Metropolitan Vancouver. The rules surrounding the distribution of oil transported through Kinder Morgan’s pipelines will increase the cost of crude oil for British Columbia’s only major refinery, thus threatening the future operations of the Chevron refinery in Burnaby, and raising the local gasoline prices.
• Approximately 1 million litres of oil have leaked from the existing Kinder Morgan pipeline since 2005.
•  Oil from the pipeline will not be sold domestically, but rather shipped by tanker to foreign markets. These raw exports will bring up to 400 more oil super tankers to the Burrard Inlet, putting our waterways, shorelines, and industries dependent on them at higher risk.
•  The Conservative government has made it clear that they believe this project should proceed at any cost- even before the affected public has been consulted.
•  Kinder Morgan held open season calls, and successfully made deals in 2011, and 2012 to secure binding 15 and 20 year transportation agreements with domestic and foreign oil refining companies.
•  Your petitioners call on the Government of Canada to immediately act to prohibit this new oil pipeline from proceeding.

 Employment Insurance

• We oppose the legislative provisions in the Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 29, 2012 and other measures (formerly known as Bill C-38) regarding the power to define “suitable employment”, the power to define “reasonable and customary efforts to obtain employment”, and the creation of a social security tribunal because:

1.  These provisions will weaken entire economic sectors  across the  country and penalize seasonal, and regional workers.
2.  These measures do not improve access to employment insurance or the ability to match workers’ skills with available jobs.

•  Canadians are being forced to accept lower-paying jobs.
•  Cuts made by the Conservatives have resulted in applicants waiting more than a month for benefits.
•  We, the undersigned citizens of Canada, call on the Government of Canada to repeal the above legislative provisions in the Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 29, 2012 and other measures (formerly known as Bill C-38) as quickly as possible.

Navigable Waters Protection Act 

1)      Changes made to the Navigable Waters Protection Act in the Conservative omnibus budget bill mean only 62 rivers, 97 lakes and 3 oceans are now protected, compared to protection that existed for virtually all of the hundreds of thousands of lakes and millions of rivers in Canada before the budget.

2)      Projects that could affect the public right to navigation no longer need an environmental assessment or public consultation before proceeding

3)      Now,  the burden of responsibility for protecting Canada’s waterways is reversed, forcing citizens, groups, businesses, first nations, fishers, and municipalities to take projects to court when their right to navigation has been violated.

4)      Valuable salmon streams, recreational properties, kayak and canoe routes, and traditional navigation routes are all at risk of unbridled, unregulated development

 We, the undersigned, citizens of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada:

• To assume its responsibility to protect the public’s right to navigation
• To guarantee the continued right to navigation on all of Canada’s lakes and rivers, and restore the environmental assessment process for proposed development projects on and near bodies of water.
• To commit to meaningful public consultation prior to approval of any project that could affect the right to navigation