44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 6, 2023 10:00AM
- Jun/6/23 2:00:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, last week in my riding of Whitby our fire and emergency services held their recruit graduation ceremony. It was an incredible event. It recognized the nine new Whitby firefighters who took the oath of service affirming their commitment to protecting our community.
Firefighters are essential to our country, and without their service, Canada could not be the safe place it is today. These national heroes who risk their lives every single day deserve our support, which is why our government has invested over $900 million to train firefighters, for disaster financial assistance and to support the work of Indigenous Services Canada.
I would like to take this opportunity to also recognize the dedication and service of Captain Bob Brandon, who has trained many recruits and is retiring this August. From the newly graduated firefighters to the many who have served in our community, we thank Captain Bob for his many years of service and his countless contributions to our community.
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Mr. Speaker, as wildfires rage destruction across the country, we are haemorrhaging the volunteer firefighters we need. There are 15,000 firefighter vacancies across Canada, and understandably so. Our volunteers, who make up 70% of our firefighting efforts, are not getting the recognition from the government that they deserve.
I have a private member's bill to support our volunteer firefighters by increasing their tax credit from $3,000 to $10,000. Will the Liberals finally show our volunteer firefighters the respect they deserve by increasing their tax exemption?
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member opposite for his advocacy. Those volunteer firefighters in virtually every community across the country provide an extraordinary service. They deserve our support and we are committed to finding the best ways to continue to support them through training, equipment and other supports.
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Madam Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for drawing that direct line between the smoke that is choking the capital, the fires across the country and climate change. Where I live, on the west shore of Vancouver Island, last week, firefighters stopped 10 potential brush fires from taking over our communities, and I want to shout out thanks to all those firefighters, both professional and volunteer.
We seem to have missed an opportunity in this budget implementation act to increase the tax credit for volunteer firefighters, and I wonder whether the member would commit to making sure we consider that for the next round of budget talks.
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Madam Speaker, one thing I know is that firefighters have a much higher approval rating than politicians, so I would always be very careful about what I say as it relates to firefighters. The reality of the situation is that if there is a missed opportunity, if it is something we did not talk about or is something we did and it needs to be resurfaced, I am certainly always interested in having those discussions. What we do know, and we can see it from the historical trends, is that the number of fires is increasing, and it has been over the last number of decades, as I indicated in my speech. We are going to need to make sure we have the resources and supports there for firefighters, moving forward, if we are going to expect them to do these jobs.
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