moved for leave to introduce Bill C-460, 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 seconded by the member for British Columbia Southern Interior, which would allow Canadians who object on conscientious or religious grounds to paying taxes for military purposes, to divert their income taxes into a special conscientious objector account. That account could only be used for purposes other than military expenditures.
This bill would recognize the deeply held views often related to deeply held religious convictions of some Canadians of 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 regulations should be developed in consultation with the Canadian yearly meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, the Quakers; the Conference of Mennonites in Canada; Conscience Canada; the Mennonite Central Committee in Canada; and Nos impôts pour la paix.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)