Bill C-52 (Historical)

Budget Implementation Act, 2007

An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 19, 2007

Part 1 implements income tax measures proposed or referenced in Budget 2007 to
(a) introduce a tax on distributions from certain publicly traded income trusts and limited partnerships, effective beginning with the 2007 taxation year;
(b) reduce the general corporate income tax rate by one half of a percentage point, effective January 1, 2011;
(c) increase the age credit amount by $1,000 from $4,066 to $5,066, effective January 1, 2006;
(d) permit income splitting for pensioners, effective beginning in 2007;
(e) introduce a new child tax credit of $2,000 multiplied by the appropriate percentage for a taxation year, effective beginning in 2007;
(f) increase the spousal and other amounts to equal the basic personal amount, effective beginning in 2007;
(g) increase the age limit for maturing registered retirement savings plans, registered pension plans and deferred profit sharing plans to 71 years of age, effective beginning in 2007;
(h) expand the types of investments eligible for registered retirement savings plans and other deferred income plans, effective March 19, 2007; and
(i) increase the contribution limits for registered education savings plans and expand eligible payments for part-time studies, effective beginning in 2007.
Part 1 also amends the Canada Education Savings Act to increase the maximum annual grant payable on contributions made to a registered education savings plan after 2006.
Part 2 amends the Excise Tax Act to clarify the legislative authority that allows the Canada Revenue Agency to pay refunds of excise tax directly to end-users, where fuel subject to excise has been used in tax-exempt circumstances. It also amends that Act to repeal the excise tax on heavy vehicles and to implement the Green Levy on vehicles with fuel consumption of 13 litres or more per 100 kilometres. It also provides an authority for the Canada Revenue Agency to pay a refund of the Green Levy for vans equipped for wheelchair access.
Part 3 implements goods and services tax/harmonized sales tax (GST/HST) measures proposed or referenced in Budget 2007. It amends the Excise Tax Act to exempt midwifery services from the GST/HST and to zero-rate certain supplies of intangible personal property made to non-GST/HST registered non-residents. It also amends that Act to repeal the GST/HST Visitor Rebate Program and to implement a new Foreign Convention and Tour Incentive Program, which provides rebates of tax in respect of certain property and services used in the course of conventions held in Canada and the accommodation portion of tour packages for non-residents, and establishes new information requirements in the case where rebates are credited by the vendor.
Part 4 implements other measures relating to taxation. It amends the Customs Tariff to increase the duty-free exemption for returning Canadian residents, from $200 to $400, for absences from Canada of not less than 48 hours. It amends the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act to clarify that when a federal corporation listed in Schedule I to that Act pays provincial taxes or fees, wholly-owned subsidiaries of that corporation also pay provincial taxes or fees. It also authorizes the Minister of Finance to make payments totaling $400 million out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund to the Province of Ontario to assist the province in the transition to a single corporate tax administration. This last measure is consequential to the October 6, 2006 Canada-Ontario Memorandum of Agreement Concerning a Single Administration of Ontario Corporate Tax.
Part 5 enacts the Tax-back Guarantee Act, which legislates the Government’s commitment to dedicate all effective interest savings from federal debt reduction each year to ongoing personal income tax reductions. That Part also commits the Minister of Finance to report publicly at least once a year on personal income tax relief provided under the Guarantee to Canadians.
Part 6 amends the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act to set out the amounts of the fiscal equalization payments to the provinces and the territorial formula financing payments to the territories for the fiscal year beginning on April 1, 2007 and to provide for the method by which those amounts will be calculated for subsequent fiscal years. It also authorizes certain deductions from those amounts that would otherwise be payable under that Act. In addition, it makes consequential amendments to other Acts.
Part 6 also amends that Act to provide increased funding for the Canada Social Transfer beginning on April 1, 2007, and to provide for the method by which the Canada Social Transfer and the Canada Health Transfer amounts will be calculated for subsequent fiscal years, including per capita cash allocations. It also provides for transition protection.
Part 7 amends the Financial Administration Act to modernize Crown borrowing authorities.
Part 8 amends the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation Act to permit the Minister of Finance to lend money to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
Part 9 amends the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation Act, the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, the Payment Clearing and Settlement Act and the Winding-up and Restructuring Act to allow the Governor in Council to prescribe the meaning of “eligible financial contract”. Those Acts are also amended to provide that, after an insolvency event occurs, a party to an eligible financial contract can deal with supporting collateral in accordance with the terms of the contract despite any stay of proceedings or court order to the contrary. This Part also includes amendments to the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and the Winding-up and Restructuring Act to provide that collateral transactions executed in accordance with the terms of an eligible financial contract are not void only because they occurred in the prescribed pre-insolvency or winding-up period.
Part 10 authorizes payments to provinces and territories.
Part 11 authorizes payments to certain entities.
Part 12 extends the sunset provisions of financial institutions statutes by six months from April 24, 2007 to October 24, 2007.
Part 13 amends the Department of Public Works and Government Services Act to provide the Minister of Public Works and Government Services with the power to authorize another minister, to whom he or she has delegated powers under that Act, to subdelegate those powers to the chief executive of the relevant department. That Act is also amended with respect to the application of section 9 to certain departments.
Part 14 amends the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada Act to allow the Minister of Finance to provide funding to the Agency for activities related to financial education.

Budget Implementation Act, 2007

[Peter Julian, NDP, Burnaby—New Westminster, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it is unfortunate that I only have 10 minutes to address Bill C-52 because I could take far longer to talk about what has been omitted and the poor budgetary policy contained within this budget.

However, after a year of the government, it is quite obvious that it has taken all its lessons from the former Liberal government. We have seen in the past year the softwood sellout, which was started by the Liberals and continued by the Conservative government. I will come back to that in a moment. We have seen the continued push on SPP, deep integration, started by the Liberals and continued by the Conservatives.

What we see in the budget is the continued push for corporate tax cuts rather than actually dealing with real issues that Canadians from coast to coast to coast are experiencing. There are $9 billion in corporate tax cuts that are being continued. The Conservatives are continuing the Liberal practice of shoveling corporate tax cuts off the back of a truck. What we see here is just a continuation of the failed Liberal policies we saw over 13 years, by the Conservatives.

What is the context of this budget? What should have been addressed? As Statistics Canada told us just this week, and after study after study has proven, is that we are experiencing in Canada a clear and growing prosperity gap. In fact, “gap” is perhaps too innocent a term. It is indeed a prosperity gulf.

As Statistics Canada reported as recently as last week. but as its studies over the past decade have shown, since 1989 the real income for most Canadian families has actually gone down. It is a reality that the Conservatives have not grasped and the Liberals did not grasp before that.

If we look at the figures since 1989, since the signing of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, the poorest 20% of Canadians have seen their incomes collapse. They have lost a month of income in real terms. It is no wonder we are seeing burgeoning numbers of homeless Canadians across the country when the poorest Canadians are actually living on a month's less income than they were in 1989.

It continues with the lower middle class. They have lost two weeks of salary in real terms. Even the upper middle class has seen stagnation. They have not gained a dime more since 1989. They are living on the same income they were living on in 1989.

Who has profited by the failed Liberal economic policies continued by the Conservatives? We all know that it is the wealthiest of Canadians. The wealthiest 5% of Canadians have seen their incomes skyrocket. Corporate CEOs and corporate lawyers in the boardrooms of Canada are doing better than ever before. In fact, coming from Vancouver on the red-eye last night, I read another article about CEOs giving themselves multi-million dollar pension incomes. While the corporate sector has been pushing to cut back on services that working Canadian families need desperately, they are giving themselves unprecedented awards, even for mediocrity.

That is the context of this budget. Eighty per cent of Canadian families are earning less now than they were in 1989. It is a prosperity gap. It is an income crisis that must be addressed.

What do we see in the budget? In the midst of that income crisis; in the midst of a homelessness crisis that we have not seen since the 1930s where 300,000 Canadians will be sleeping out in the parks and on the sidewalks of our nation tonight; in the midst of a fall in real income for 80% of families; a gutting of our manufacturing sector; and the giveaway of our resources, raw logs from British Columbia and oil and gas resources from Alberta, at fire sale prices, which only profits corporate CEOs and corporate lawyers, we have a budget that addresses more corporate tax cuts and continues subsidies paid by Canadian taxpayers to the profitable oil and gas sector.

I come from British Columbia and when I left on the red-eye yesterday to get back to Ottawa, gas prices were at $1.30 a litre. A study that came out last week clearly showed that there was no justification for gas prices being more than 97¢ or 98¢ a litre right now given the current international price for a barrel of crude oil. We have this gouging by the big oil and gas companies, a favourite of the Conservative government, but in addition to that, as these companies reap record profits, the Conservatives shovel more money at them, taxpayer money.

The Conservatives do not deal with homelessness or with the crisis in the health care sector. They shovel hundreds of millions of hard-earned Canadian taxpayer dollars at the oil and gas sector. It is absolutely appalling.

What is in the budget? There is no national housing strategy and no national transit strategy. There is nothing on employment insurance. It contains nothing on establishing a $10 minimum wage, which is something the NDP has been calling for now for some time. Obviously, if we were to take a look at the poorest of Canadians, we would see that 20% of Canadians have lost a month's salary over the past 18 years. That needed to be addressed by the government but, since it only listens to the boardrooms of the nation, it did nothing to deal with this crisis of income and nothing to establish a $10 minimum wage.

The budget has no poverty reduction strategy and no plan to end student debt that is now at record levels. The budget has no cancellation of the corporate tax cuts started by the Liberals. In fact, the Conservatives just continue to shovel that money at the corporate CEOs and corporate lawyers.

The budget has nothing for pharmacare, home care, long term care in the health care sector; nothing for improved access to health care for aboriginal peoples; nothing about coordinated training of medical professionals; and nothing about catastrophic drugs. The budget has no significant new money for aboriginal Canadians who, along with Canadians with disabilities, are the poorest of the poor of Canadians.

The budget says nothing about autism. There is no ban on bulk water exports, which is an issue that was started by the Liberals and being continued by the Conservatives. We see nothing for seniors and no increase in the old age supplement as my colleague, the member for Sackville—Eastern Shore, just mentioned. We see nothing about providing the kinds of benefits that veterans and their widows and spouses deserve. We see no action following the NDPs' promotion of the veterans first motion that was adopted by this Parliament. The government talks the talk but it does not walk the walk and, therefore, nothing for veterans.

What we see across the country is absolutely no effort by the government to change track after 13 years of Liberal obsession with corporate tax cuts at the expense of everything else. We see nothing to deal with that income crisis.

I will now talk about British Columbia because that is the most egregious part of this budget. The Minister of Finance rose in the House and said in his budget speech:

From the majestic peaks of the Rocky Mountains [in Alberta] to the rugged shores of Newfoundland and Labrador, many of the most beautiful places on earth are in Canada.

This budget completely neglected British Columbia. We see that on the equalization formula that was adopted. We see absolutely no action at all in any of the key areas that British Columbians have been crying out for and pushing the Conservative government to take action on.

What have we seen from the government on the pine beetle which has devastated the interior of British Columbia? The government actually withdrew the funding last year that had been allocated to the pine beetle, even though it was far below what was needed. This year it has allocated pennies on the dollar. We have seen a lot of photo ops and press conferences but very little action has been taken.

The Conservatives promised to take action on leaky condos but no action has been taken.

It is no surprise to me that the poll which came out this weekend shows the Conservatives third in British Columbia now. The NDP are at 30% , the Liberals at 29% and the Conservatives at 23%. Quite frankly, they do not deserve British Columbians' support because this budget does not include British Columbia.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague from Burnaby--New Westminster has worked a lot on the trade deal with regard to the softwood lumber sellout where jobs have been disappearing across this country. The same thing has been happening in the auto sector where we have witnessed the loss of thousands of jobs across Ontario and Quebec. Recent statistics show that since January, 52,000 jobs have been lost in manufacturing alone. This has been catastrophic to families across this country who depend on the auto sector and the manufacturing sector in general to pay their bills and save for the future.

The budget has a lack of vision with regard to manufacturing. One specific thing I would like to touch on is the feebate that was introduced arbitrarily by the Conservative government. Canadian taxpayer dollars will be going to Beijing, Seoul and other places outside of Canada as these incentives will go predominantly to non-domestic auto manufacturers as opposed to a made in Canada strategy that we have been proposing. We literally will be stripping millions of dollars from this country. The Yaris, for example, will receive an injection of cash of about $34 million that will be used against our own domestic producers.

I would like to ask my colleague about a plan for manufacturing and industrial development, especially based upon his work on the softwood lumber file. Even in Windsor West, believe it or not, a very successful furniture making factory in post-end production disappeared in recent weeks because of the softwood lumber sellout.

[Peter Julian, NDP, Burnaby—New Westminster, BC]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague from Windsor West has done a terrific job, along with his colleague from Windsor--Tecumseh, in fighting back on the appalling poor strategy of the government in terms of auto jobs.

The reality is that the present government is just bad news for working families right across the country. We saw this with the softwood sellout. The former Liberal minister of trade took an agreement with him when he crossed the floor to the Conservatives. We knew, after hearings last summer, that the agreement would result in a catastrophic loss of jobs. The Minister of International Trade knew that and he signed it just the same because he wanted to be in the good books of the Bush administration. He gave away $1 billion. I guess that gift was expected to provide some quid pro quo.

It turned out exactly as the NDP said it would. Five thousand jobs have been lost and $1 billion has been given away since that egregiously bad softwood agreement was signed. Now the Bush administration is saying that Canada should stop all future forestry programs at the federal and provincial levels and stop all support to softwood communities. What a bad deal. What a pathetic government to sign an egregiously bad sellout of this country.

The government has continued it now in the auto sector, as my colleague from Windsor West just pointed out. It has now set up an environmental plan that actually supports the auto sector in other countries, not the Canadian auto sector.

We need to wonder where the Conservatives are coming from. Without questioning the impact, they are taking all the bad Liberal policies that have led to this income crisis in the country where most Canadian families are now earning less than they were 18 years ago, and they are going further. They are rushing forward with a whole series of concessions to sign a trade agreement with South Korea that we know will devastate our auto sector even more.

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS]

The shipbuilding sector too.

[Peter Julian, NDP, Burnaby—New Westminster, BC]

The shipbuilding sector as well, as my colleague from Sackville--Eastern Shore points out.

The government has been a disaster for working families.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it is with some eagerness and reluctance at the same time that I rise to speak on the budget. Reluctance in the sense of having to look through a document again to realize its shortcomings for the people of my region in northwestern British Columbia and eagerness to be able to point out to my colleagues in the House and Canadians across the country what bad government looks like when the balance of views and opinions across the country are misaligned and put out of context.

The result is a budget that was presented to Canadians some weeks ago and supported by the Bloc, which it seems is in some disarray this morning having had a leader, not having a leader, maybe having a leader again and perhaps not having a leader by the end of the day.

[Peter Julian, NDP, Burnaby—New Westminster, BC]

Now it does not have members of Parliament.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Now it does not have members of Parliament. I have often questioned what the actual role of the Bloc is in the House. That question is now put front and centre for all the world to see. It is a bit embarrassing and unfortunate. I think the people of Quebec will make different decisions in the next election than ones made in the past. However, that is not why I am speaking today.

It is important to finally recognize that Quebeckers do not share the Bloc's point of view. That is clear, particularly when it comes to the budget. This budget contains an extreme measure that will affect the economy, as well as the future of our country and the provinces.

The Bloc supported the Conservatives' budget, but it is impossible to understand why unless we look at it from the Bloc's perspective on the next election. That is why the Bloc supported the budget: to try to get a few more seats here supporting its point of view in the next election.

I need to talk about the northwest for a moment. I need to talk about the people of Skeena—Bulkley Valley and in general the rural residents and the people who live in the true country of Canada.

There is much talk in this House and discussion in the general media in this country about the urbanization of Canada. Yet the foundation of our country, the foundation certainly of our economy rests still in the rural sector. This budget steps away from support of rural communities in a most desperate way.

We have seen programs cut for young people seeking employment. This disproportionately affects those young people looking to stay and maintain a vibrant community, looking to eventually raise their own children and contribute to the community. Often times these summer employment programs were a stepping stone allowing young people to stay in their communities and form those communities and bring something strong for our future.

We talk about our future. My colleague from Burnaby mentioned how we watched the devastation of the pine beetle grow in my region of the northwest and the central interior of British Columbia. We watched the previous government attempt to put its head in the sand and ignore it. The previous government did not allow any funding whatsoever to come through for what is now being seen as the greatest ecological disaster our country has ever faced.

We have seen this new government come forward and make promises of money. Then we do not find in 478 pages of this budget document a single line or space to talk about the pine beetle devastation.

How is it that this government, that claims to be letting the west in and all that triumphalism of the last election that finally there was some interest coming from the west, has butted up against the Rockies and stopped there. The interests and views of the people of British Columbia have been taken somehow for granted.

People in British Columbia know that in the previous two elections time and time again Conservative incumbents put themselves forward in B.C. and it was New Democrats that were removing them from office because they were not reflecting the views and the grassroots of what people are most interested in.

The west can lose an entire sector of our economy, namely the forestry sector, and watch it decline in a rapid rate and yet there is not even a whisper of interest. The government spent $11 million on an airport. That is hardly going to turn around one of the greatest sectors of our economy that has held British Columbia and the entire country together for many decades and centuries.

Let me turn now to first nations. Thirty percent of my region in Skeena is made up of first nations people. I think Chief Phil Fontaine came out almost immediately and cited that this budget was almost in a sense a declaration of war. He said it was a declaration of conflict, looking to conflict directly with the first nations people of our country. Why this has happened is simply beyond me.

It is not as if first nations people are enjoying a quality of life superior to any other sector. It is far worse. I would take any member of Parliament in this place through Skeena. I would show them both the pride and the deep conviction of community that is in those reserves and villages. I would also show people the desperate living conditions that people continue to live in.

It has been said too many times in this place that it is a national disgrace to have a budget come forward, the single most important document that a government produces on a yearly basis, and absolutely wipe out any slight progress that had been made by previous governments. It is a shame. It continues the shame, as does the lack of reform for our employment insurance program.

The government has this kitty or free bank that is directly off the back of employers and employees across this country. There has been committee report after committee report that has come forward and said that the EI reforms need to be front and centre, particularly for transitional economies like Prince Rupert, British Columbia, and for my colleague from Acadie—Bathurst, where we know there are times when communities need support. It is basic Keynesian economics that there are ups and downs.

We know that when things are good they are good and we put a little money aside for when things are bad. That is what the employment insurance program, being insurance, is meant to do. This is an insurance program that just does not pay out. It simply collects money and moves it into a slush fund and the government spends it on its little pet projects rather than helping out communities and families.

Child care has been growing in concern across my region. There are families that are desperate for basic, simple, ordinary child care services and they cannot find it. There are single mothers looking to enter back into the workforce and they cannot find child care spaces. People simply cannot find a way back to the workforce to contribute to the economy for lack of child care funding.

The provincial government in British Columbia has had a few enormous embarrassments. There has not been any type of opposition to the government stripping out hundreds of millions of dollars for child care which has been an incredible shame.

There was not a whimper out of Victoria from the B.C. Liberals as these Conservatives, and they are both of the same ideological brush, simply removed the funding from child care spaces in B.C. and not a single space has been created as a result. That is true in Skeena. It is true in Vancouver, Victoria and right across British Columbia.

The people of Skeena are hard-working people. They are settlers. They are people who have made the land possible. They are first nations that have lived there for thousands of years.

Last year, I asked for a study to be done by the Library of Parliament to describe the tax balance; how much tax money the people in my riding are paying out to the federal government and how much is coming back in terms of services over the last 10 years, as an example.

Year on year, the devastating number that came back to us was 10 to 1. For every $10 that was sent out of Skeena in tax dollars, in revenue for the federal government to spend across this country, there was $1.00 coming back.

People talk about fiscal imbalance from the provincial level. I have fiscal imbalance coming out of every which way in Skeena. When we look for some sort of level of basic fairness, from the forestry sector that contributes hundreds of millions of dollars, the mining sector, the fishing industry that has done so over decades, and we ask for a simple balancing of the equation, we do not receive even 1 to 1. When we ask for something a little more reasonable, we are told to go away. However, the oil sands is able to pull out a little over $1 billion a year in tax subsidies every year for an industry that is making more money than it knows what to do with right now.

Canadians are looking for a little fairness. People of Skeena are looking for a little fairness. This budget simply did not deliver.

It was with great conviction and some certain sense of sorrow that we chose to vote against this budget because we are looking for some sort of decency and balance, particularly in a minority Parliament because this is the House that Canadians constructed for us.

On the environment, we have regression after regression. We thought things were bad with the Liberals when it came to climate change. We had no idea how bad it could get. The deniers moved to delayers, and now to outright spin doctors. The Conservatives paid a little too close attention to the Liberals' ability to spin rather than hold up on substance.

The budget is unsupportable. We will continue to resist efforts of this government to bring it to fruition.

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS]

Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague is absolutely correct. There is great disappointment in this budget because in many ways it divides Canadians but does not unite them.

I would also like to give the member the opportunity to explain to Canadians, especially people in his riding, what democracy means. Democracy means when the Prime Minister, who was then in opposition, said that when a motion passes the House this is what government should adhere to.

A motion did pass this House last November. It was called the veterans first motion. In that motion, we asked that the SISIP program be redone. Two DND ombudsmen also said the same thing. It is unfair to disabled soldiers when their insurance money gets clawed back. It is a sin. We have the fiscal capacity to fix it. We waited for the budget; it was not there.

Then there is the VIP extension for widows and widowers. That was in the motion passed by the House. It was a promise by the Prime Minister, but it was not in the budget.

Then there was the elimination of the gold-digger clause when soldiers and RCMP officers married after the age of 60. That was in the motion passed by the House. Two Conservatives had private members' bill on it. Yet the Conservatives voted against it.

There are many other things that we would like to see done. In the brevity of time, those are the three main elements.

Why does this member think the government so callously in opposition supported these endeavours but once in government voted against them even when it has the fiscal capacity to help the widows, and our injured soldiers and veterans?

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Sackville—Eastern Shore for his lengthy and tireless work on behalf of veterans. Year after year the member has stood in the House with great passion and conviction. I recall that even a few weeks ago in question period all members congratulated him for his support for veterans.

It seems there is a certain democratic deficit being displayed by the current regime and the Prime Minister. While in opposition the Prime Minister often spoke of the need to have the will of the House expressed and then supported by the government of the day. Yet suddenly and quickly, as quickly as a member can cross the floor or someone can be appointed to the Senate, those convictions and principles, if we can call them that, changed.

A principle is not a principle when it is tested and found wanting. That is political opportunism. It is unfortunate that the Prime Minister did this, because my colleague from Sackville—Eastern Shore is talking about our veterans. It seems to me the government seems more excited and fixated by votes on the Afghan mission, declaring triumphalism and supporting the George Bush style of tactics, than by actually supporting our veterans when they return home.

The veterans first charter that passed through the House is the most glaring example of this. That charter was supported by the House, including the Conservatives, but then the basic elements in the veterans first charter were ignored by the government. There was the program for the widows, the VIP, and there were others that my colleague from Sackville—Eastern Shore mentioned.

When the fixation and focus seem to go in that direction, with chest thumping, getting all excited and slamming their desks, the Conservatives are there, but they are not there when it is time to support our veterans, to put money on the table, to make sure that when they come back money is not stripped away from their disability programs and the other options we give them. It is a contract, such that when the Government of Canada asks soldiers to serve, they will be supported, both in the field of operations and upon their return home.

We have seen this in living conditions in regard to the lack of support when veterans return to their communities. The government has failed them and their families. It is truly a tragedy that the government continues to pretend to be a supporter of the military yet when the time comes for true support, when the mission is finished and our veterans' term of duty has been served, and when the member for Sackville—Eastern Shore brings this motion forward and is supported by all members of the House, the government still ignores the will of Parliament, to the detriment of not only our democracy but in particular our veterans.

[An hon. member]

It's a shame.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

That is a true shame.

[The Acting Speaker, Royal Galipeau]

Is the House ready for the question?

[Some hon. members]

Question.

[The Acting Speaker, Royal Galipeau]

The question is on the motion. Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?