House of Commons Hansard #13 of the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was businesses.
Vic Toews ConservativeMinister of Public Safety
Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the 2010 annual report of the RCMP's use of the law enforcement justification provision.
This report addresses the RCMP's use of specified provisions within the law enforcement justification regime which is set out in sections 25.1 to 25.4 of the Criminal Code of Canada. This report also documents the nature of the investigations in which these provisions were used.
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34(1), I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the report of the Canadian parliamentary delegation to the Canada-France Interparliamentary Association concerning its participation in the standing committee meeting held in Montreal, Quebec, from May 3 to 5, 2011.
Gord Brown Conservative Leeds—Grenville, ON
Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34(1) I have the honour to present to the House, in both official languages, the following reports of the Canadian delegation of the Canada-United States Inter-Parliamentary Group respecting its participation in three conferences: First, the Canadian/American Border Trade Alliance Conference held in Washington, D.C., September 21, 2010; second, the Council of State Governments Annual Conference which was held in Providence, Rhode Island, December 3-6, 2010; and third, the Canadian/American Border Trade Alliance Conference held here in Ottawa, May 1-3, 2011.
Dave MacKenzie Conservative Oxford, ON
Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the first report of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights in relation to Bill C-2, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (mega-trials).
The committee has studied the bill and has decided to report the bill back to the House without amendment.
(Bill C-2. On the Order: Government Orders:)
June 22, 2011--Report stage of Bill C-2, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (mega-trials)--the Minister of Justice.
The Speaker Conservative Andrew Scheer
Pursuant to an order made on Thursday, June 16, Bill C-2, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (mega-trials), is deemed concurred in at report stage and deemed read a third time and passed.
(Bill concurred in, read the third time and passed)
Joy Smith Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB
Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the first report of the Standing Committee on Health entitled “Review of Proposed Tobacco Regulations”.
If the House gives its consent, I intend to move concurrence in this report later this day.
Peter Julian NDP Burnaby—New Westminster, BC
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)
Frank Valeriote Liberal Guelph, ON
moved for leave to introduce Bill C-247, An Act to expand the mandate of Service Canada in respect of the death of a Canadian citizen or Canadian resident.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce a bill, seconded by the member for Markham—Unionville, to expand the mandate of Service Canada in respect of the death of a Canadian citizen or Canadian resident.
The bill requires the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development to establish Service Canada as the single point of contact for the Government of Canada for matters relating to the death of a Canadian citizen or Canadian resident when cancelling social insurance numbers, passports and dealing with pensions and tax records for example.
The current system is far too cumbersome for those who have lost their loved ones and a new single point of contact system would save the government money by consolidating the agencies responsible for conducting this administration.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)
Glenn Thibeault NDP Sudbury, ON
moved for leave to introduce Bill C-248, An Act respecting an Emergency Services Appreciation Day.
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Welland for being the seconder on the bill.
This bill, An Act respecting an Emergency Services Appreciation Day, would legislate that every third Saturday in July be known as emergency services appreciation day all across Canada.
The bill supports and recognizes the work done by police, firefighters and paramedics, and truly, every time we are on our way out of an emergency situation, they are on their way in. This day is our way of saying thanks for the great work that our emergency services personnel do right across our great country.
I hope everyone will support the bill.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)
Peter Stoffer NDP Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS
moved for leave to introduce Bill C-249, An Act to amend the Excise Tax Act (no GST on the sale of home heating fuels).
Mr. Speaker, when Mr. Mulroney was the Conservative prime minister, he introduced a draconian tax that taxed people's home heating essentials, from wood to oil to gas to everything else.
As members know all too well, the cost of fuel is very expensive. Adding a tax on top of that is a tremendous burden on citizens in this country.
In Nova Scotia, the government removed the PST portion of the HST on home heating fuels. There is absolutely no reason why the government cannot give Canadians a break and remove the federal tax off home heating essentials in this country.
That is what this bill purports to do. We would like to give families and businesses across this country a break. We would hope that the Conservatives would understand the importance of this legislation and help us pass it as soon as possible.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)
Peter Stoffer NDP Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS
moved for leave to introduce Bill C-250, An Act to amend the Income Tax Act (herbal remedies).
Mr. Speaker, when the Liberals were in power, they imposed a tax on herbal remedies that a lot of Canadians use.
My wife, for example, is allergic to sulfa-based drugs and cannot use 90% of prescriptions that are on the market. She uses herbal remedies, subscribed by a naturopath in some cases, and yet those particular herbal remedies are not available for tax exemption. If people without a medical plan have a prescription, they can claim it on their income tax return. However, if people use remedies like St. John's Wort, et cetera, they are not entitled to claim that as a medical expense.
I believe, as do many Canadians who use natural products to heal themselves, that they should be able to claim that as a tax deduction.
Again I am hoping that the Conservatives, who like tax cuts, will support this initiative in order to support the millions of Canadians who do not use sulfa-based drugs but use alternatives for their remedies.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)
Peter Stoffer NDP Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS
moved for leave to introduce Bill C-251, An Act to amend the Excise Tax Act (no GST on reading materials).
Mr. Speaker, any time we look at this country, there are about 20% to 25% of Canadians, in both official languages, who are functionally illiterate. A lot of people cannot even afford to buy basic reading materials such as newspapers, books, magazines, et cetera.
However, to charge a tax on reading materials when we are trying to encourage more and more Canadians to actually read is simply wrong.
I have this legislation, like the other two, to encourage my Conservative colleagues, who like to talk about tax cuts, to quickly adopt this legislation and remove taxation from all reading and educational materials.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)
Peter Stoffer NDP Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS
moved for leave to introduce Bill C-252, An Act to amend the Income Tax Act (physical activity and amateur sport fees).
Mr. Speaker, this is a bill that I have been working on since about 1998. I am proud to admit that our provincial government and the federal government have adopted the bill in a very small way, allowing a small aspect of a tax credit for children under 16 who are involved in physical activities.
Our bill goes a lot further than that. If a person is a member of Nubody's, for example, or a gym and pays $300 to $400 a year or a month or whatever for that membership, I believe that membership should be tax deductible.
If people are members of a hockey team, a basketball team, a dance club or anything that gives them physical activity for which they need a membership, I believe the fees for that membership should be tax deductible, and not at 15%, but at the full amount, because that would encourage more and more Canadians to become physically active and would allow more Canadians to put, and I know the Conservatives love to hear this, more money in their pocket so they can spend on other aspects of their lives.
If we want to reduce health care costs and encourage greater community living, we need to get more Canadians physically active by allowing them to have a tax deduction on the fees that they pay for gym memberships, et cetera.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)
Peter Van Loan ConservativeLeader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, there have been discussions among the parties and I believe you would find unanimous consent for the following motion. The purpose of the motion is to move the time of the vote tonight on estimates from 10 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., something that has been done on occasion in the past.
I move:
That, notwithstanding any Standing Order or usual practice of the House, during the consideration of the Business of Supply on the last allotted day in the supply period ending June 23, 2011, at 6:30 p.m. the Speaker shall interrupt the proceedings and put forthwith, without further debate or amendment, every question necessary to dispose of the opposition motion and forthwith thereafter put successively, without debate or amendment, every question necessary to dispose of the motion or motions to concur in the Main Estimates and Supplementary Estimates (A), and, notwithstanding Standing Order 71, for the passage at all stages of any bill or bills based on the main or supplementary estimates.
The Speaker Conservative Andrew Scheer
Does the hon. government House leader have the unanimous consent of the House to propose the motion?
The Speaker Conservative Andrew Scheer
The House has heard the terms of the motion. Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?
Peter Van Loan ConservativeLeader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, I want to take this opportunity, as we approach the end of this parliamentary session, to thank our House of Commons pages who have served us so well. They do so in an honourable, non-partisan fashion. The expression is “They're supposed to be a part of the furniture”, but they are certainly much more than that. They help run our daily operations on a very smooth basis.
I want to thank all the pages for the hard work they have undertaken this year. I think I speak for all members on all sides of the House when I say it is a pleasure to be surrounded by bright young people who have such a keen interest in serving their country and in serving us in the House of Commons.
I hope, as this year wraps up, they will look back on it as an historic and interesting year with many fond memories. Some members have heard me say it before that my own wife was a page. She always says that it was the best year of her life, thus far at least. Many other pages have expressed the exact same sentiment.
This is an historic Parliament for another reason. Although the page program has existed for many years, in this 41st Parliament it is the first time I believe we have had pages who have actually been elected to become members of Parliament. There are two former pages who sit among us as members of Parliament.
I want to thank them and wish them the very best. My thanks for their work this year. I wish them all the best success in the future.
Procedure and House AffairsCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings
Carleton—Mississippi Mills Ontario
Conservative
Gordon O'Connor ConservativeMinister of State and Chief Government Whip
Mr. Speaker, I offer the following motion. I move:
That, notwithstanding any Standing Order or usual practice of the House, the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs be dispensed from presenting a second report pursuant to Standing Order 104(1) within the first ten sitting days after the second Monday following Labour Day 2011; and that the chair and the two vice-chairs of each standing or standing joint committee elected at the commencement of the session retain their functions.
The Speaker Conservative Andrew Scheer
Does the hon. chief government whip have the unanimous consent of the House to propose the motion?
Procedure and House AffairsCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings
Some hon. members
Agreed.