Mr. Bruce Halliday (Oxford):

Madam Speaker, I rise to seek leave of the House to present the following motion, which I think you may get approval for:

That, notwithstanding Standing Orders 132 and 140, the petition

for a private bill from the Royal Society of Canada, presented on

Tbesday, March 31, 1992, and reported upon by the Clerk of

Petitions on Wednesday, April 1,1992, be deemed to have been filed

within the required time limit and received by this House.

Mr. Bruce Halliday (Oxford):

Madam Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34(1), I have the honour to present to the House, in both official languages, the report of the Canadian Group of the Interparliamentary Union which represented Canada at the 87th Interparliamentary Conference in Yaounde, Cameroon, April 6 to 11, 1992.

There were four main issues debated at that conference: first, environment and development with special reference to the UNCED meeting forthcoming this week; second, the functioning of democracy with emphasis on economic development and the use of the peace dividend; third, the issue of AIDS; and, fourth and finally, a general debate on the political, economic and social situation in the world today.

Mr. Bruce Halliday (Oxford):

Mr. Speaker, the recently announced export tax on cigarettes of $8 per carton has caused great anxiety and consternation in the tobacco growing communities in and around Tillsonburg and in my riding of Oxford. As a result, the hon. member for Elgin-Norfolk and I have received a petition signed by about 4,500 constituents.

We acknowledge the need to take action to stop the smuggling of cigarettes into Canada, but a way more appropriate than the export tax needs to be found. Not only will this tax seriously injure tobacco producers, but also the support services in those communities, all the way down to those who operate duty free shops at our border crossings.

March 18, 1992

Oral Questions

The Minister of Finance has made it very clear that he is not trying to increase his tax revenue from tobacco sales. It remains for producers, manufacturers, politicians and officials to come up with a more acceptable and effective way to reduce the smuggling of cigarettes into Canada.

Mr. Bruce Halliday (Oxford):

Madam Speaker, I have the pleasure of presenting a petition signed by some 28 people from my constituency and also from London, who are in support of the parents of Nina de Villiers in deploring the apparent increase in crimes of violence, and calling for appropriate amendments to the Criminal Code of Canada, the Bail Reform Act and the Parole Act.

Mr. Bruce Halliday (Oxford):

Mr. Speaker, although a perfect record was marred by a few bad eggs at the large farm rally on Parliament Hill last Friday, we should commend the leadership and members of the supply managed commodity groups for the very well planned and executed rally they staged in support of the government's strong position on the need to clarify and strengthen article XI of the GATT.

Canada's marketing boards are the envy of producers in many other countries. It is to be hoped that this well-staged demonstration will signal to other countries the strong support there is to maintain an orderly marketing system which is fair to both producers and consumers alike and, at the same time, does not distort international trading patterns through subsidized overproduction.

I am proud that eight busloads came from my constituency of Oxford, the dairy capital of Canada.

[DOT] (-1410)