44th Parl. 1st Sess.
December 2, 2021 10:00AM
- Dec/2/21 10:05:35 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to table this petition on behalf of residents from Errington, Hilliers, Parksville and Qualicum Beach in my riding who are calling for support for volunteer firefighters, who account for 83% of Canada's total firefighting essential first responders. In addition, they cite that approximately 8,000 essential search and rescue volunteers respond to thousands of incidents every year, including the floods in my riding recently. They cite that the tax code of Canada currently allows volunteer firefighters and search and rescue volunteers to claim a $3,000 tax credit if they provided 200 hours of volunteer services in a calendar year. That works out to a mere $450 per year that we allow these essential volunteers to keep of their own income, which is about $2.25 an hour. If they volunteer for more than 200 hours, which many do, this tax credit becomes even less. The petitioners are calling upon the Government of Canada to increase this tax exemption from $3,000 to $10,000 to help our essential volunteer firefighters and search and rescue people across the country.
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- Dec/2/21 10:25:14 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I keep hearing the Conservatives talk about the runaway housing crisis. I could not agree more that this needs to be addressed.
However, the Liberal-Conservative coalition is protecting the big banks and standing together united in protection of the wealthy, doing everything from protecting tax havens that need to be shut down to protecting CEO stock options. We never hear that coalition talk about the lack of solutions to tackle the housing issue. Maybe the member can actually talk about real solutions, such as non-market housing, instead of more incentives to prop up the wealthy.
The Conservative-Liberal coalition is ruining this country.
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- Dec/2/21 11:46:24 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I first want to congratulate my colleague, and I want to thank him for talking about the cost of public service on our families. I really appreciate that.
He talked about wealth leaving rural Canada. Too often, wealth starts in rural Canada and leaves rural Canada. He talked about housing. In the early 1990s, 10% of our housing was non-market housing. Now it is less than 4%. In Europe it is 30%. Non-market housing is the solution.
The Liberal-Conservative coalition and free-market solutions are not going to solve the housing problem. They are leaving a legacy of thousands and thousands of people homeless in my riding and across the country—
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- Dec/2/21 12:16:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, congratulations on being in the chair.
My colleague talked about reconciliation. She is well aware of the shootings of Chantel Moore, who died last year on a wellness check; Julian Jones, who was shot in Opitsaht earlier this year; and another woman in Hitacu. These are three people from the Tla-o-qui-aht nation in my riding.
The Speech from the Throne says:
The Government will also continue to reform the criminal justice system and policing.
It has not even started, so I do not know where the “continue” comes from.
It has been very clear. The report, “Systemic Racism in Policing in Canada”, was done at the public safety committee. None of those recommendations has been put into place, and I am hoping my colleague will champion bringing that report back and actually implementing the calls to action.
The Tla-o-qui-aht need answers, and the mothers of those victims need answers. People need change. They do not trust the police anymore where I live. They need accountability, they need reform, and they need oversight and transparency. The recommendations from the report are critical to earn the trust of indigenous people in this country, and to save lives and prevent further unnecessary deaths.
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- Dec/2/21 12:56:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we know that the Liberals are all about the rapid housing initiative with a billion dollars in the first round. There were subscriptions of $5 billion in applications, yet only 20% were funded.
One of the applications came from my riding in Port Alberni to buy the old Beaufort hotel, and it was supported by the Salvation Army, the Bread of Life, KUU-US Crisis Line, the Canadian Mental Health Association and Lookout. ESDC said that this was a great application supported by the city, our local MLA and the local Shuswap Nation. It was filling a gap that the province of B.C. identified for the hardest to house. The parole board even wrote a letter of support. It said it had no housing for inmates when they were released. In fact, 98% of those inmates were indigenous. As well, it was identified that two-thirds of the people in our local homeless count are indigenous.
They applied again. They were just told that they were denied. More people are going to be dying on the streets of this country. We are spending over $75 billion on buying fighter jets and we are putting $1 billion toward homelessness. This is shameful.
My colleague made a commitment. Is the commitment there that he is going to help get this deal done, because we will lose this property and this opportunity by April 1. I hope he will live up to his words and his commitment.
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- Dec/2/21 1:31:41 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague talked a lot about the government needing to get out of the way. When it comes to merchant fees, Canada's merchants pay some of the highest fees in the world. In the U.K. they pay 0.3%, in France 0.28% and in Australia 0.5%. In Canada, we have a rate of 1.4% on the interchange fees.
Liberals, in the last budget, said they were going to do something about that and cap merchant fees, yet we have not seen any action from the Liberal-Conservative coalition. They protect the big banks, protect the big credit card companies and the super wealthy.
Does my colleague agree there is a time for government intervention when it comes to small businesses being hosed by credit card companies and the big banks?
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