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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 272

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
January 31, 2024 02:00PM
Context: House Hansard - 272 - Jan/31/24
Mr. Marc Serré (Nickel Belt, Lib.)
  • Jan/31/24 2:14:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, everyone should file their income tax before April 30 to receive the credits and benefits to which they are entitled. For example, the quarterly issued carbon rebate in Ontario is for all taxpayers and it is a tax-free benefit to offset the cost of federal pollution pricing. Experts around the world agree that pricing pollution works. It is just one way Canada is fighting pollution. The carbon rebate quarterly payment went out January 15 and the next is April 15. The 2024 payment for a family of four in Ontario is $976; for a couple, it is $732; and for an adult living alone, it is $488. I want to thank those who volunteer at the free tax clinics in Nickel Belt. They are a vital part of helping low- and modest-income Canadians access the important benefits they are entitled to. Our future generations deserve a strong economy that attracts green investment and protects the environment.
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Context: House Hansard - 272 - Jan/31/24
Mr. Kevin Vuong (Spadina—Fort York, Ind.)
  • Jan/31/24 9:07:06 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, we are here this evening to try to understand why the Minister of International Development was such a stalwart defender of UNRWA and to get clarity for Canadians on how their hard-earned taxpayer dollars are being used. When I asked the government last year, on December 14, 2023, about the $10 million in additional taxpayer dollars it pledged to UNRWA in spite of evidence on the misuse of international aid by Hamas, instead of treating it with the seriousness that it deserves, the minister accused me of making “political points”. It is not political to want to ensure Canadian tax dollars are not being used to fund terrorism. It is the government's moral and legal duty. In the minister's response, he noted that he “had numerous meetings with the head of UNRWA, Mr. Lazzarini” and emphasized that he will continue to work with “trusted agencies, like UNRWA”. I would like to tell the minister and the federal government about their trusted agency. On October 7, 2023, six UNRWA workers were part of a wave of Hamas militants who killed 1,200 people. Two UNRWA workers also helped to kidnap Israelis. Just two days ago, The Wall Street Journal reported that intelligence estimates around 1,200 of UNRWA's roughly 12,000 employees in Gaza have links to Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad. That is one in 10 employees at the minister's trusted agency. About half have close relatives who belong to Islamist militant groups. The report also stated that 23%, or nearly one in four, of UNRWA male employees had ties to Hamas. An Arabic teacher at UNRWA is said to be a Hamas militant commander who took part in a terrorist attack on Kibbutz Be'eri where 97 people were killed and about 26 were kidnapped and taken as hostages. In 2017, the former head of UNRWA's union was fired after he was elected to Hamas' top political leadership. An UNRWA math teacher, belonging to Hamas, was close enough to a female hostage in Gaza that he took a picture of her. Another teacher was carrying an anti-tank missile the night before the invasion. Is that part of the trusted agency curriculum? Since October 7, 2023, Hamas has stolen more than $1 million worth of UNRWA supplies, including fuel and trucks; and an intelligence assessment claims Hamas operatives are so deeply enmeshed within the UNRWA aid delivery enterprise that they coordinate transfers for the organization. Does any of this sound like an agency to be trusted? UNRWA is an organization full of hate and it has been indoctrinating generations of innocent Palestinians to hate Jews. I have been reading excerpts of UNRWA's textbooks and I cannot believe what it has been teaching. Did members know that teachers are required to punish students who do not directly connect Judaism to murder? Did they know terrorists are glorified as role models, and that suicide bombings and cutting the necks of the enemy are glorified? Therefore, I would like to ask the government if it still believes UNRWA is a trusted agency and why Canadian taxpayers are footing the bill to support UNRWA when this so-called humanitarian agency participates in the operations and murderous actions of Hamas, a listed terrorist organization.
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