Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak to the bill introduced by my colleague, the member for Hamilton Mountain, because it will help the people in my riding in particular. I will explain in real terms what they experience, and this will help everyone understand how beneficial the bill is.
This bill allows tradespeople—mainly construction workers—and apprentices to deduct from their taxable income any travel and accommodation expenses that they incur in order to secure and maintain employment at a job site that is located more than 80 kilometres away from their residence.
In order to help members understand how the bill works, I will briefly explain the geography of my riding.
My riding includes four RCMs: Abitibi to the east, Abitibi-Ouest to the northwest, the city of Rouyn-Noranda a little further south, and Témiscamingue. Each RCM has a main city located more than 80 km from the next city.
With this bill, a worker can work for a while in another RCM in order to honour a contract and can deduct travel and accommodation expenses from his taxable income.
Why is this particularly attractive? In some RCMs, there is often too much work for one person in specific construction trades, but not enough for two people, or there is work, but not enough to hire a worker on a full-time basis.
For example, if a plumber in the Témiscamingue RCM does not have enough work, he can accept one- or two-month contracts in a neighbouring RCM in order to earn a full-time income. Thus, he will be able to complete a job in a neighbouring RCM. In a situation where there is too much work for one person, but not enough for two, this plumber can accept a portion of the work.
At present, there is a problem in the Témiscamingue RCM, to the south, which has a smaller population. It probably has the smallest number of available hours of work. Often, it is not worth their while for people from other RCMs to accept contracts there.
There are municipalities that put out a call for tenders to install air conditioners, for example. This has to be done by someone with a competency card. However, no one wants the job because the pay is not high enough to offset their costs. No one bids or the bids are ridiculously high. If the individual who accepts the contract were able to deduct his costs from his taxable income, it would be worth his while to go.
This bill definitely recognizes the reality of rural areas where the major centres are more than 80 kilometres apart. Of course, major centres are relative. In my riding, a town of 10,000 people is a major centre. I know that it is not the same everywhere. Given that the major centres are more than 80 kilometres apart, this bill really reflects the local reality.
I think it would be interesting to have some statistics on the construction industry in Abitibi-Témiscamingue.
In 2009 and 2011, there were 3,000 construction jobs on average. That represents 4.4% of regional employment. Many people in my region would tangibly benefit from the bill.
I would also like to say that the number of housing starts keeps increasing because the vacancy rate has been under 1% for the past few years in cities such as Amos, Rouyn-Noranda and Val-d'Or.
Another factor, in addition to the vacancy rate, is that sometimes builders cannot find the people to do the job. These construction sites slow down. This bill could help get projects up and running because the financial incentive for workers who want to go elsewhere will make it possible to move labour around. Vacancy rates are one factor, but so are the projects themselves. Although the industrial mining sector has slowed down somewhat, there was a significant boom in 2013.
In real terms, investments are not growing. In 2011, they apparently totalled more than $2 billion, including mining and hydroelectric projects in northern Quebec and Abitibi-Témiscamingue, and not counting the activities that could develop from the Plan Nord of the Quebec government of the time.
From 2000 to 2011, according to the Institut de la statistique du Québec, the value of construction permits grew at an annual average of more than 10% in most RCMs in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region, particularly in the Vallée-de-l'Or RCM and the city of Rouyn-Noranda, for a total of $154 million and $80 million respectively.
There has been clear growth in construction in Abitibi-Témiscamingue, primarily in the residential construction sector, followed by institutional and commercial construction, industrial construction, and civil engineering and road construction. It is hard to find workers for this growing sector because the financial compensation is inadequate.
Nonetheless, we have a tangible way of helping a rural region like mine. That is why I hope that the members of all parties will support this bill, which was introduced at the very start of the session. We were quite anxious to talk about it. My colleague from Hamilton Mountain introduced it just after the election. I am extremely pleased to finally speak to it and to say how beneficial it will be to my riding, Abitibi—Témiscamingue. I sincerely thank my colleague for introducing this bill that will help my riding.