moved for leave to introduce Bill C-348, An Act respecting conscientious objection to the use of taxes for military purposes.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to again introduce a private member's bill which would allow Canadians who object on conscientious or religious grounds to paying taxes for military purposes to have a prescribed percentage of their income tax diverted into a special conscientious objector account.
The bill would recognize the deeply held views often related to deeply held religious convictions of some Canadians that participating in any way in the activities of war and the accumulation of weapons sanctions and perpetuates killing and violence. The bill would provide an important option for conscientious objection and ensure that the tax dollars of those Canadians who hold these beliefs are spent for peaceful purposes.
A particular feature of the bill is that the regulation should be developed in consultation with organizations including the Canadian Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, the Quakers; the Conference of Mennonites in Canada; Conscience Canada; Mennonite Central Committee Canada; and Nos impôts pour la paix.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)