moved for leave to introduce Bill C-246, An Act to amend the Income Tax Act (hearing impairment).
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for Montcalm, who is seconding this bill. He is one of the strongest advocates in this House when it comes to the rights of persons with disabilities.
The bill would establish equality for hard of hearing and deafened Canadians. With the disability tax credit currently many hard of hearing and deafened Canadians are not able to access tax credits because the tax credit regulations basically force the person to be in an ideal situation in order not to hear.
What the bill purports to do would be to put in place a system where, in a real working life, somebody who is hard of hearing or deafened is unable to hear, would then be able to access this credit.
The bill is endorsed by the Canadian Hard of Hearing Association, Voice for Hearing Impaired Children, the Canadian Association of Speech Language Pathologists and Audiologists and the Canadian Academy of Audiology. All of those organizations urge all members of the House to support the bill so that we can get equality for deafened and hard of hearing Canadians.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)