House of Commons Hansard #225 of the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was c-49.
Diane Lebouthillier LiberalMinister of National Revenue
Mr. Speaker, we are fully committed to fighting tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance. The proof is that our government has invested nearly $1 billion over the past two years to tackle tax evasion.
Our plan is working. We are on track to recover $25 billion. We are working on four jurisdictions per year. There have been 627 cases transferred to criminal investigation, 268 warrants, and 78 convictions. I want to be very clear; this is a priority for our government—
EthicsOral Questions
Christine Moore NDP Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC
Mr. Speaker, in response to a question, the Minister of National Revenue said that clinical nurses are allowed to complete the tax credit application forms, but actually, only nurse practitioners can do so. I wanted to know, did she use the wrong term, or did she want to—
EthicsOral Questions
The Speaker Geoff Regan
Order. It seems to me that this is not a point of order, but rather a matter of debate.
Kevin Lamoureux LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36(8) I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the government's response to six petitions.
Wrecked, Abandoned or Hazardous Vessels ActRoutine Proceedings
Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount Québec
Liberal
Marc Garneau LiberalMinister of Transport
moved for leave to introduce Bill C-64, An Act respecting wrecks, abandoned, dilapidated or hazardous vessels and salvage operations.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)
Anthony Housefather Liberal Mount Royal, QC
Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 16th report of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights entitled, “Access to Justice--Part 2: Legal Aid”.
Pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee requests that the government table a comprehensive response to this report.
John McKay Liberal Scarborough—Guildwood, ON
Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 14th report of the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security concerning Bill C-21, An Act to amend the Customs Act.
The committee has studied the bill and has decided to report the bill back to the House with an amendment.
Diane Finley Conservative Haldimand—Norfolk, ON
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition on behalf of constituents in my riding of Haldimand—Norfolk who are concerned about the lack of religious protection for medical professionals in Bill C-14, medical assistance in dying, and Bill C-51, clause 14. As it stands, clause 14 would remove the only provision in the Criminal Code that directly protects the rights of individuals to freely practise their religion, whatever that religion may be.
The petition calls on the government to enact a policy that would provide the review of any legislation, ensuring it does not impinge upon the religious rights of Christians.
Len Webber Conservative Calgary Confederation, AB
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition today from dozens of residents in the Calgary area. It was presented to me by Jeenan Kaiser, Lorna Ly, Alam Randhawa, and Suzie Lee, all from ONE UCalgary.
The petitioners are asking the government to address the fact there are 130 million girls not in school around the world. They point out that every year of schooling increases their wages by 12% and reduces poverty. They point out that foreign investment in education has a tenfold return. Therefore, they are asking the government to increase Canada's global education funding from $302 million today to $592 million by 2020. This would be an investment of just 2¢ per Canadian per day and would make an incredible difference.
Carol Hughes NDP Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON
Mr. Speaker, I rise to table a petition to the Minister of Transport. The petitioners remain concerned that the Algoma passenger train is still not operating. They indicate that as a result, this has created and continues to create substantial hardships to the residents, businesses, and others who relied on the train. The petitioners add that alternate ways are not reliable year-round, or are non-existent.
They ask that the Minister of Transport put the Algoma passenger train back in service. The petitioners are from Hornepayne, Hearst, Val Rita, Constance Lake First Nation, Kapuskasing, Thunder Bay, Brampton, Port Sydney, Geraldton, Porcupine, Smiths Falls, Toronto, and Alberta.
Elizabeth May Green Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC
Mr. Speaker, I rise this afternoon to present two petitions from constituents in Saanich—Gulf Islands.
The first petition calls on the Government of Canada to work to upgrade the National Building Code in the name of energy efficiency, with the goal of reducing overall energy demand by 15% over the current code.
Mr. Speaker, the second petition, also from residents of Saanich—Gulf Islands, calls for a permanent ban on crude oil tankers, not just on the north coast of British Columbia but along the whole west coast of Canada to protect existing British Columbia industries and fishing, tourism, coastal communities, and our natural ecosystems.
Mark Warawa Conservative Langley—Aldergrove, BC
Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to present two petitions today.
The first one is on gender-based violence. It highlights the fact that discrimination against girls begins even before they are born, that people are using ultrasounds to determine the sex of the preborn child and if it is a girl the pregnancy is often ended. In the world right now there are over 200 million missing girls. The petitioners are calling on Parliament to condemn discrimination against girls occurring through the use of sex selection.
Mark Warawa Conservative Langley—Aldergrove, BC
Mr. Speaker, the second petition is on conscience protection. There are physicians and nurses in Canada who are being forced through coercion to be part of assisted suicide and euthanasia against their will. They are calling on Parliament to protect their rights of conscience.
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Mr. Speaker, I have a petition from my constituents that states the following: that a carbon tax on all provinces is not in the best interest of Canada, that this tax will increase the price of everything, and that this tax will drive jobs out of the country. The petition also highlights that this tax will not help the environment because more effective measures to help the environment would involve not exporting Canadian technology to less environmentally friendly jurisdictions and not sending jobs to less environmentally friendly jurisdictions. The petition also draws attention to the negative impacts of this carbon on our energy sector. I commend this to the consideration of the House.
Kennedy Stewart NDP Burnaby South, BC
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to present a petition from constituents all over British Columbia. The petition is entitled “Kinder Morgan Trans-Mountain pipeline is not in our 'national interest'”. The petitioners are strongly opposed to the Trans Mountain pipeline, mainly because of the extra tankers that will come through our waters and the fact that bitumen is very difficult to clean up. The petitioners are calling on the Government of Canada to reject the expansion of the proposed pipeline and to have a national energy plan. They also stand in solidarity with those who were arrested this weekend.
Ben Lobb Conservative Huron—Bruce, ON
Mr. Speaker, I have a petition to present on behalf of residents of Huron—Bruce. It is in regard to incorporated small businesses, farms, etc., the way they are taxed, the way capital gains are treated therein, and investment income inside incorporated small businesses.
Cheryl Hardcastle NDP Windsor—Tecumseh, ON
Mr. Speaker, I rise today proudly with a very intriguing petition that was organized and put together very rapidly, to answer to the crisis against the people of the Rohingya. The human rights atrocities that are taking place right now are requiring a quick and decisive action and we have people who have signed a petition. Some 46,000 of them want Canada to make sure that the perpetrators of these atrocities do not face impunity, and they want Canada to be part of the safeguarding of resources and peacekeepers to go in. I am tabling this petition in pursuit of this social justice and in its urgent nature, the petition is not in its correct form. However, I would ask for unanimous consent to table this petition.
TaxationPetitionsRoutine Proceedings
The Speaker Geoff Regan
Does the hon. member have unanimous consent to table the petition that is not in its correct form?
TaxationPetitionsRoutine Proceedings
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Mr. Speaker, I have a petition from several hundred members of my constituency of Edmonton West. The petitioners are calling on the government to condemn the illegal arrest of a Canadian citizen for practising Falun Gong and to call for the immediate and unconditional release of the Canadian citizen, Ms. Qian Sun.
Kevin Lamoureux LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
Mr. Speaker, I ask that all questions be allowed to stand.