Mr. Speaker, I stand today to present a petition on behalf of 850 fishers from Newfoundland and Labrador and from Quebec.
These fishers have been treated very unfairly by the government. They were taxed at a rate that was above what they should have been taxed when they retired their fishing licence. They did so voluntarily at the request of the Government of Canada at the time. Unfortunately, they were provided with wrong information from Revenue Canada to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans that their benefit would be taxed 100%. This should not have happened. They should have been taxed 25%.
We now know that another 150 fishers were only taxed 25% and they paid the right amount of taxes.
We have 850 fishers asking the government to return the money that is owed to them, no more, no less. They are not asking for something that is not theirs. They are asking for the government to acknowledge and respect their right to only pay tax on 25% of the retirement benefit and not 100%.
We ask the government today to acknowledge that this error was made and to return to the fishers the thousands of dollars they are owed, money they have done without, which has made it very difficult for the fishers and their families. We ask the government to acknowledge this error and to right the wrong.