We’ve got a Motion on airport safety, movement on a Bill to keep kids away from online porn, and more progress on the carbon tax exemption for farmers. Details below!
Motions
Fire Safety at Airports –Ken Hardie (Lib, British Columbia, Fleetwood—Port Kells)
Our first Motion of the week involves firefighters and airports and asks that:
The House recognize that an assessment by the International Association of Fire Fighters concluded significant regulatory shortfalls concerning emergency responses at Canada’s major airports are needlessly putting the safety of the flying public at risk, by:
- Failing to specify rescue as a required function of airport fire fighters
- Requiring only that fire fighters must reach the mid-point of the furthest runway in three minutes rather than all points on operational runways within that time period
And in the opinion of the House, the government should, without delay, ensure that the Canadian Aviation Regulations reflect airport rescue and firefighting standards published by the International Civil Aviation Organization, specifically by:
- Giving fire fighters at Canada’s major airports the mandate and resources necessary to reach the site of a fire or mishap anywhere on an operational runway in three minutes or less
- Specifying that a required function of fire fighters be the rescue of passengers
Pretty straightforward here, Ken wants better regulations and resources for airport firefighters and wants to make sure rescue is a priority of airport firefighters.
The Motion passed with 212 voting in favour and 112 voting against.
| Party | For | Against | Paired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | 152 | 0 | 1 |
| Conservative | 0 | 112 | 1 |
| Bloc Quebecois | 32 | 0 | 0 |
| NDP | 24 | 0 | 0 |
| Green | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Independent | 3 | 0 | 0 |
The Conservatives voted against this Motion as it would increase the cost to fly and Canada is already one of the safest places to fly so we don’t need to add more regulations.
The Bloc support this Motion, referencing an incident at Mirabel airport where a car caught fire in the parking lot and the airport chose not to deploy its firefighters, waiting for the municipal firefighters to respond instead. (For reference, a man died from this and an airport firefighter was fired for taking one of the fire trucks to the scene after being instructed not to) They also point out that responding to an aircraft fire requires specialized training (apparently 333 hours of it) and municipal firefighters aren’t going to be able to handle things properly.
The NDP support the Motion but mostly talked about how the Liberals could just do this instead of running a Motion about it.
Radio-Canada – Martin Champoux (BQ, Quebec, Drummond)
Next we have a quick Motion regarding Radio-Canada asking that the House:
- Affirm that Radio-Canada plays a crucial role in Francophone information and cultural vitality in Quebec and in Canada’s Francophone and Acadian communities
- Recognize that the announced cuts could be detrimental to the promotion of French-language culture, at a time when the federal government recognizes that the French language is under threat in Canada
- Express its strong reservations of planned cuts at Radio-Canada and that it reiterate that the preservation of the public broadcaster’s services in the various regions of Quebec and in Canada’s Francophone and Acadian communities must be a priority
This was passed with unanimous consent, so everyone agrees that Radio-Canada is important and that cuts to it are bad.
Bill Updates
S-210 – Protecting Young Persons from Exposure to Pornography Act
S-210 made it through the Senate without change and went up for its Second Reading vote. It passed with 189 voting in favour and 133 voting against.
| Party | For | Against | Paired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | 15 | 132 | 1 |
| Conservative | 115 | 0 | 1 |
| Bloc Quebecois | 32 | 0 | 0 |
| NDP | 24 | 0 | 0 |
| Green | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Independent | 2 | 1 | 0 |
The NDP support S-210 because they’re worried about how accessible porn is to children. They say the average age of people first accessing it is 9, and they’re worried about the impact porn has on youth’s understanding of what a healthy sexual relationship looks like.
The Bloc make a similar argument, though focus more on the mental health of young girls being exposed to porn and thinking what they see is normal in a relationship.
The Liberals are against S-210 based on what they heard during consultations for other Bills they’ve worked on, like the Online Harm Bill. They argue that Canadians don’t trust companies doing enough to protect their privacy which raises issues with having a third-party collecting information for age verification. They also argue that parental controls already exist on any device that could be used to access porn, so measures like what S-210 pushes for aren’t needed and a different approach should be used.
S-210 will now be sent to the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security.
C-234 – An Act to amend the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act
The Senate passed C-234 with a small but significant amendment. The Senate has changed it so the carbon tax exemption for heating on farms will be permanent, while the other exemptions in C-234 have been reduced to only last for three years instead of the original eight.
Closing Fun
And that’s it! The House is out until the end of January, so I’ll just be posting some Bill breakdowns on Wednesdays in the meantime. Happy Holidays everyone!