Bill C-227 (Historical)

An Act to amend the Income Tax Act (travel and accommodation deduction for tradespersons)

This enactment allows tradespersons and indentured apprentices to deduct from their taxable income any travel and accommodation expenses that they have incurred in order to secure and maintain employment in a construction activity at a job site that is located at least 80 kilometres away from their ordinary place of residence.

Taxation

[Chris Charlton, NDP, Hamilton Mountain, ON]

Mr. Speaker, for decades the building trades have been lobbying for income tax deductions for travel and accommodation when their members are working away from home. My Bill C-227 would achieve that goal, but frankly, I have told the Minister of Finance that I do not care who gets the credit as long as we get the job done.

Past Liberal governments refused to act and ignored the evidence that this initiative actually saves the government money. The tax cut is cheaper than paying EI for workers who cannot afford to accept jobs in other parts of the country.

I know that the finance minister cannot reveal what is in his budget, but will he assure the building trades that he is working on giving them support?

Building and Construction Trades

[Chris Charlton, NDP, Hamilton Mountain, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I want to take a moment to congratulate Canada's building and construction trades on another hugely successful policy conference in Ottawa this week.

I want to thank them in particular for supporting my Bill C-227, which would give tax deductions to workers for travel and accommodation expenses when they go to job sites away from their homes, but I also hope that the government paid close attention to the building trades' call for action on apprenticeship and training programs.

Two concurrent trends are unfolding. By 2017, there will be a shortfall of 317,000 skilled workers in Canada. According to April statistics, unemployment for youth between the ages of 15 and 24 was 88% higher than the national average. Troubling as these data are, they also point to an opportunity, if only the government would act to support the skills training youth need to acquire a trade and build a future with decent paying jobs.

Instead of spending $13 billion on community infrastructure with no strings attached, the government could and should have seized the opportunity to mandate training and apprentice ratios in every contract awarded. Sadly, the only time the Conservatives talk about youth is in the context of young offenders. Frankly, it is a disgrace.

Young Canadians deserve hope and they deserve the opportunity to strengthen the country their parents and grandparents built.

Taxation

[Chris Charlton, NDP, Hamilton Mountain, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to table another petition that has been circulated by John Grimshaw, business manager of IBEW Local 105 in my hometown of Hamilton.

The building trades have lobbied successive governments for over 30 years to achieve some basic fairness for their members. They want tradespeople and indentured apprentices to be able to deduct travel and accommodation expenses from their taxable incomes, so that they can secure and maintain employment at construction sites that are more than 80 kilometres from their homes.

It makes no sense for tradespeople to be out of work in one area of the country while another region suffers from temporary skilled labour shortages simply because the cost of traveling is too high. To that end, they have gathered tens of thousands of signatures since I first introduced Bill C-227, which allows for precisely the kinds of deductions that their members have been asking for.

I am pleased to table the petition on their behalf and I will continue to work with the building trades until the federal government finally addresses their concerns.