Bill C-316 (Historical)

An Act to amend the Canada Revenue Agency Act (organ donors)

This enactment amends the Canada Revenue Agency Act to authorize the Canada Revenue Agency to enter into an agreement with a province or a territory regarding the collection and disclosure of information required for establishing or maintaining an organ and tissue donor registry in the province or territory.

Organ Donation

[Pat Kelly, Conservative, Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition in support of my colleague from Calgary Confederation's private member's bill, Bill C-316, which was submitted by Tara Winthers-Norris of Calgary.

Petitioners from Calgary and Airdrie are calling on the House to improve the organ donation system in Canada. This would be achieved by making the process to register as an organ donor easier by adding a simple question to our tax returns.

Becoming an organ donor is the easiest way to save the life of a fellow human being. These are signatures of Canadians who want to see our organ donor system work better so we can save more lives every day.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Banff—Airdrie, AB]

Madam Speaker, I rise today with a petition signed by residents of my constituency, mainly from Airdrie and Crossfield.

The petitioners call upon Parliament to support my colleague's bill, Bill C-316, by the member for Calgary Confederation, so Canadians are able to indicate their desire to donate their organs and tissues through their annual tax return. They ask that this information be shared with their provincial or territorial government for the purpose of being added to existing donor registries.

[Len Webber, Conservative, Calgary Confederation, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition in support of my private member's bill, Bill C-316. The bill asks that Canadians be able to register as organ donors through their annual tax returns. While 90% of Canadians support being an organ donor, only 25% are registered.

April is BeADonor month, which aims to raise awareness of organ and tissue donation. Ironically, April is also the deadline for filing taxes.

Becoming an organ donor is the easiest way to save a life of a fellow human being. By raising awareness and making registering easier, we can save more lives.

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I am rising to table petition e-642, my first electronic petition, signed by 2,252 people in support of the member for Calgary Confederation's private member's bill, Bill C-316.

I want to take a moment to thank Shauna Rivait, who is the initiator of the petition. She worked extremely hard to get this many people to support her and to support the member for Calgary Confederation by signing this petition. It is very important. She has a personal connection to this, as do many people who signed the petition. Her father lived for 10 extra years thanks to a double lung transplant. Her sister, unfortunately, passed away.

I want to thank Shauna and all those who signed it. I also want to thank the government members for giving consideration to this bill. I will be going back to every single person who signed this petition to thank them for supporting my colleague in this endeavour.

[Len Webber, Conservative, Calgary Confederation, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition in support of my private member's bill, Bill C-316, which was submitted by Teresa DeGusti of Calgary. The petitioners are calling on the House to improve the organ donation system in Canada by making the process to register as an organ donor easier. This would be achieved by adding a simple question to our annual tax returns.

Becoming an organ donor is the easiest way to save the life of a fellow human being. Teresa collected pages and pages of signatures, and these are signatures of Canadians who want our organ donor system to work better so that we can save more lives every day.

[Len Webber, Conservative, Calgary Confederation, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present another petition in support of my private member's bill, Bill C-316, which was submitted by Heidi Smethurst of Calgary. The petitioners are calling upon the House to improve the organ donation system in Canada by making the process to register as an organ donor easier. This would be achieved by adding a simple question to our annual income tax returns. Currently, 90% of Canadians support organ donations, but only 25% are registered. We know that making the registration process easier will save more lives.

Organ Donations

[Len Webber, Conservative, Calgary Confederation, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition in support of my private member's bill, Bill C-316, which was submitted by Don Kryskow of Calgary.

The petitioners from Calgary and Red Deer are calling on the House to improve the organ donation system in Canada by making the process easier to register as an organ donor. This would be achieved by adding a simple question to our annual tax returns.

Every organ donor has the potential to save eight lives, but we need to make it much easier to register as a donor.

[Len Webber, Conservative, Calgary Confederation, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition in support of my private member's bill, Bill C-316, which was submitted by Mr. Brad Arnold of Calgary. The petitioners are calling on this House to improve the organ donation system in Canada by making the process to register as an organ donor easier.

This would be achieved by adding a simple question to our annual tax returns. Mr. Arnold, a recipient himself, collected signatures from throughout Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, showing that there is indeed national support for this sensible change to our tax forms.

It is also my pleasure to rise today to present a petition in support of my private member's bill, Bill C-316. The petitioners are calling on this House to improve the organ donation system in Canada by making the process to register as an organ donor easier. This would be achieved by adding a simple question to our annual tax returns.

I would like to thank Don Axford for collecting all these signatures from around Calgary. There are 4,600 Canadians awaiting an organ transplant, who stand to benefit from his efforts.

Organ Donation

[Len Webber, Conservative, Calgary Confederation, AB]

Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to rise today to present a petition in support of my own private member's bill, Bill C-316.

Petitioners are calling on this House to improve the organ donation system in Canada by making the process to register as an organ donor easier. This would be done by adding a simple question to the annual tax return.

I would also like to specifically thank Ms. Casey Amatto from Calgary for collecting all these signatures and showing she cares about the 4,600 Canadians awaiting an organ transplant.

Canada Revenue Agency Act

[Len Webber, Conservative, Calgary Confederation, AB]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-316, An Act to amend the Canada Revenue Agency Act (organ donors).

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce a bill that would assist the provinces in growing and maintaining their organ donor registries. Four thousand six hundred Canadians are currently awaiting a transplant, and we can help.

My bill would ask Canadians, on their annual tax return, if they consent to having their provincial or territorial government inform of their desire to be added to their organ donor registry. The bill would be a sensible, cost-effective way of using an existing and legally binding document to annually update organ donor registries throughout the country. It would respect provincial jurisdictions and utilize existing privacy and information-sharing agreements. It would have the potential to save many lives.

I want to thank the hon. member for Calgary Shepard for seconding my bill. I look forward to having support across all parties.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)