Kennedy Stewart: Mr. Speaker, I think what is important here is for all of us to talk about this motion with colleagues and people we have made friendships with who are open to reasonable change in the House. If this went all the way through and were introduced, it would not affect the business here in the House greatly, but it would impact the lives of Canadians.

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There are a zillion reasons to support local agriculture – reducing greenhouse gases (shipping apples to BC from New Zealand doesn’t seem to make any sense), supporting our local economy, being sure our children are eating healthy food, taking good care of the land on which it is grown.  And now we have another reason. The E.coli outbreak at the XL slaughter house in Brooks, Alberta, shown a spotlight on the risks of going for the opposite of local — one giant facility slaughtering up to 5,000 cattle a day.

I had a great time at an auction on Salt Spring Island this fall to support the building of a local abattoir. The local abattoir is needed to allow the production of Salt Spring Island lamb. The alternative is to add the huge financial burden of trucking the lambs by ferry to an abattoir up island. Considering I became a vegetarian when I was eight and adopted a pet lamb, I never really saw myself as someone willing to donate for an abattoir. However, with what is going on in the increasingly industrialized, corporate concentrated world of food production, I am ready to chain myself to the next cannery or abattoir I see being shut down. Of course, food contamination can occur in large or small operations. But in small operations, the impact is limited and local and quickly traced. Public health was compromised in the XL case because the key federal agency took nearly two weeks to sort out what products were contaminated and because the scale of the outfit made them hesitate for fear of undermining the image of Canadian beef. We need to fight for local agriculture, for local farmers making a decent living and to assure Canadians that the food we put on the table is safe.   

In This Issue…

• Centre for Plant Health Saved!
• XL Foods – a Few Facts on the Biggest Food Recall in Canadian History
• XL Foods – Moments from the Emergency Debate in the House of Commons – October 3, 2012
• Town Halls Coming in January
• National Food Policy Vision: to Improve Food Safety, Security, and Sovereignty
• Statement on Remembrance Day
• Your opinion matters!
• Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal Awards Ceremony

The post Winter 2012 Newsletter – Food Safety appeared first on Elizabeth May.

Almost a year ago in the House I presented a motion calling on the government to improve guaranteed income supplement benefits so that seniors could be lifted out of poverty. Here we are a year later, and the government has done nothing but give us bogus pension plans and a threat to reduce the old age security–

The Deputy Speaker: I am sorry to interrupt the hon. member. The hon. Chief Government Whip is rising on a point of order.

Hon. Gordon O’Connor: Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. People presenting petitions are not supposed to advocate for them and they are not supposed to comment on them. They are just supposed to read them.

The Deputy Speaker: Is the hon. member for Saanich—Gulf Islands rising on the same point of order?

Elizabeth May: Yes, Madam Speaker. I just want to make sure I understand the rules clearly and what the hon. government whip has said.

I understand that we are not supposed to read petitions and that we are supposed to summarize them. I agree we are not supposed to make long speeches about them. I do not believe it is appropriate to read petitions.

The Deputy Speaker: I thank hon. members for their comments. Just to clarify, it is quite accurate that petitions should not be read verbatim. They should be summarized. The exercise is not to indicate either support or opposition, but simply to represent petitioners’ ideas.

I would ask the hon. member for London—Fanshawe to complete her petition so that others can speak.

Irene Mathyssen: Madam Speaker, I will summarize the wishes of the people of Canada.

The petitioners call upon the Government of Canada to make the appropriate investments in guaranteed income supplement to lift every senior out of poverty.

The post Question of Privilege – Pensions appeared first on Elizabeth May.

Elizabeth welcomes the opportunity to work with you to properly present your petition, and strongly encourages you to take full advantage of this right.

A ‘how-to’ guide can be found here:

http://www.parl.gc.ca/About/House/PracticalGuides/Petitions/petitionsPG2008__cover-e.htm

Don’t hesitate to contact the Ottawa office before you get started.  Elizabeth and her team are happy to assist!

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Ms. May had been planning a private members  bill on this issue, but is happy to support NDP MP Fin Donnelly’s  recently announced effort, if it comes to the House before her bill.

“Shark finning is an issue that many of my constituents feel strongly about as they are concerned about the drastic decline in shark populations worldwide.  I am pleased to present their views to  Parliament and hope they will be given due consideration and taken up in committee,” said May. “There are already restrictions against catching  sharks in Canadian waters so the next step would be to stop any trade in shark fins.”

The petition calls for a ban on the possession, trade, distribution or sale of shark fins in Canada.  At a press conference earlier this month, the group’s  representative, Alisa Preston, explained, “Sharks are declining in  numbers at an alarming rate, threatening the stability of the oceans’ ecosystem.  Every year, as many as seventy million sharks are caught,  stripped of their fins and thrown back into the sea, often alive, to  slowly sink and either drown or be eaten by other fish.  It is a wholly  unnecessary and solely profit driven slaughter.”

Shark fins are used mostly for a high priced soup, considered a delicacy though shark fins have no nutritional value and are essentially tasteless.  Due to overfishing, 90% of the world’s large shark populations have already been wiped out.  The International Union for  the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) reports that more than a quarter of shark species left are threatened with extinction and another 20% are ‘near  threatened’ with the northeast Atlantic population particularly  vulnerable.

Many countries have already banned shark finning.  In the United States, the shark finning ban started with President Bill Clinton and was strengthened this year by President Barack Obama with the Shark Conservation Act.

The post May presents petition to end Shark Finning appeared first on Elizabeth May.

The petition, organized by local scuba divers in Victoria, BC, calls for a ban on the possession, trade, distribution or sale of shark fins in Canada.  The group’s representative, Alisa Preston, explained, “Sharks are declining in numbers at an alarming rate, threatening the stability of the oceans’ecosystem.  Every year, as many as seventy million sharks are caught, stripped of their fins and thrown back into the sea, often alive, to slowly sink and either drown or be eaten by other fish.  It is a wholly unnecessary and solely profit driven slaughter.”

Shark fins are used mostly for a high priced soup, considered a delicacy though shark fins have no nutritional value and are essentially tasteless.  Due to overfishing, 90% of the world’s large shark populations have already been wiped out.  The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) reports that more than a quarter of shark species left are threatened with extinction and another 20% are ‘near threatened’ with the northeast Atlantic population particularly vulnerable.

Many countries have already banned shark finning.  In the United States, the shark finning ban started with Bill Clinton and was strengthened this year by Barack Obama with the Shark Conservation Act.

There is still time to sign the petition, available at www.divepro.ca .  Petition sheets can be mailed postage free to Elizabeth May’s office (Address: House of Commons, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6).

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