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Today on the Hill: Stopping violence

Today on the Hill: Violence prevention is on the agenda
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The Peace Tower is seen on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on November 5

By Terry Pedwell, The Canadian Press

OTTAWA - As Parliament grapples with misconduct complaints against two former Liberal MPs, a couple of timely events are taking place today on the Hill.

The Commons status of women committee will hear Lisa Steacy of the Canadian Association of Sexual Assault Centres and other witnesses talk about ways to prevent violence against women.

Meantime, Western University and the Canadian Labour Congress will release the results of a survey on domestic violence and its effects on the workplace.

The opposition parties are still coming to terms over what to do about complaints Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau received involving two of his MPs and two female New Democrats.

The New Democrats, who initially dismissed an offer of a third-party expert to help resolve the complaints, now embrace the idea.

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair is also urging other parties to adopt his proposal to develop a formal code of conduct for MPs.

Here are some other events taking place on and around Parliament Hill:

— International Trade Minister Ed Fast meets his small- and medium-sized enterprises advisory board and is later expected to comment on the first anniversary of Canada’s Global Markets Action Plan;

— The Federal Court will hear the case of Hendrik Tepper, a New Brunswick potato farmer who was detained on an international arrest warrant on allegations he exported rotten potatoes to Algeria and forged export documents;

— The Supreme Court of Canada renders decisions in various leave to appeal applications;

— Prime Minister Stephen Harper departs for the Francophonie summit in Senegal.

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