House of Commons Hansard #154 of the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was tax.

Topics

National DefenceAdjournment ProceedingsPrivate Members’ Business

7:50 p.m.

Conservative

James Bezan Conservative Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB

Mr. Speaker, it is indeed a pleasure to rise to speak on a question I first raised on February 13, which coincidentally was on the very issue on which we just took a recorded division, which was on a motion I presented in the House on March 9 on restoring danger pay and tax benefits for our troops who are in the fight against ISIS. The unfortunate thing is that we had to essentially embarrass the government to support this motion, when we gave the government so many opportunities to correct this wrong.

Whether they are in Iraq or whether they are in Kuwait, as long as they are engaged in battle and are supporting the operations of the Canadian Armed Forces to stop ISIS through Operation Impact, they deserve all the danger pay and all the support of the Government of Canada, because the government called on them to go into this mission.

We also have to realize that this danger pay is in support of not just military personnel, recognizing the dangerous work they are doing, but is also about supporting their families back home. Military families are the enablers of our Armed Forces, and they are often dealing with all sorts of hardship because of the separation from their loved ones, such as the extra costs of child care and home and yard maintenance and all the other things that pop up from time to time during these extended periods when their loved ones are deployed.

I raised a question in the House today on this very issue. The minister has, on a number of occasions, misled this House. We raised it with the minister and with the chief of the defence staff back in the fall. We were made aware of this in October 2016. I went the proper route, first writing the minister on this issue. I got a very vague response. It took months to get the response. I raised it in committee when we had, first, the chief of the defence staff there and then the minister, in December, and again, there was no response. It essentially took all sorts of media coverage and questions in question period from the opposition for the Liberals to start recognizing that this now needed to be dealt with.

Unfortunately, we never saw this rectified until tonight, when we saw the vote and the unanimous support for my motion to reinstate hardship pay and danger benefits for all troops in Kuwait and to make it retroactive to September 1, 2016.

The minister kept saying in question period today, when I asked the question, that it was our Conservative government that sent our troops into Iraq without danger pay and that he corrected it in February 2016. I tried to get up on a point of order, and I will make the point now, that we have the question on the Order Paper, No. 600, signed by the minister himself. It clearly says that Operation Impact in Iraq has had all of the danger pay in place since August 22, 2014. Even for the operation in Baghdad, which started on April 17, 2015, they have had all of their danger pay, so he has definitely misinformed the House or has continued to mislead on the situation.

We also know, from section (h) of the question on the Order Paper, that all the Armed Forces personnel in Kuwait received tax relief from October 5, 2014 until September 1, 2016, so I would like the parliamentary secretary to correct the record and say that--

National DefenceAdjournment ProceedingsPrivate Members’ Business

7:55 p.m.

Liberal

The Assistant Deputy Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota

The Parliamentary Secretary for the Minister of National Defence.

National DefenceAdjournment ProceedingsPrivate Members’ Business

7:55 p.m.

Saint-Jean Québec

Liberal

Jean Rioux LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence

Mr. Speaker, I thank my honourable colleague for his question.

First, I would like to reiterate that this government has tremendous respect for the men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces. They know their duty is to carry out the missions the government asks of them, and they do outstanding work in performing their duties.

The least we can do is ensure that they are appropriately compensated for the excellent work they do on operations, and that is exactly what the minister said to the member opposite during committee in December, and again when we debated his motion earlier this month in the House.

We committed to look after our men and women in uniform, particularly regarding their compensation. This commitment has not changed. The minister himself has been deployed many times, and he knows how important these allowances are not only for our soldiers, but for their families back at home as well.

This is why Canadian Armed Forces members deployed abroad are entitled to allowances that reflect the conditions and risks that they are exposed to. The risk levels assigned to Canadian Armed Forces operations are established by a committee after review by various experts, including medical and intelligence advisors.

This is a rigorous and thorough process that involves multiple departments. The goal of this committee is to assign levels that accurately reflect the actual conditions and risks that personnel are exposed to in a specific geographic location and on a specific operation. Like for all CAF operations abroad, the different levels assigned to Operation Impact are continuously reviewed to ensure our men and women in uniform continue to be appropriately compensated.

As the hon. member pointed out, there have been recent changes changes in the risk allowance of 15 soldiers deployed to Kuwait as part of Operation Impact. In its new assessment, the committee found that the level of risk was not high enough to meet the requirements for a tax break for those locations.

That being said, we are currently looking at how best to appropriately compensate our personnel for the outstanding work they do on operations. This includes reviewing internal procedures on addressing hardship and risk conditions.

As we have said it before, the minister has asked the Chief of the Defence Staff to look into this issue and to make recommendations on what changes need to be made. The minister has also asked the Department of National Defence to work with the other relevant departments and agencies to review this process. Work to do so is currently under way.

During the debate on March 9, our government supported the motion to reinstate tax relief for Canadian Armed Forces personnel deployed in Arifjan, Kuwait. The House adopted the motion unanimously that evening.

Our government stands with our men and women in uniform who are doing an extraordinary job serving their country in dangerous places. We are extremely proud of the work they are accomplishing. Our troops that are deployed in various locations in Iraq as part of Operation Impact have been very successful so far in helping local forces defeat Daesh. Together with our allies, they contribute significantly to the global fight against Daesh.

As members of the House are well aware, they are accomplishing a wide variety of tasks in support of the coalition. Our CAF personnel are contributing a great deal to this success, and we remain committed to ensure they are appropriately compensated for the work they do.

National DefenceAdjournment ProceedingsPrivate Members’ Business

8 p.m.

Conservative

James Bezan Conservative Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB

Mr. Speaker, instead of addressing the issue, the Liberals are blaming the bureaucracy again. I know for a fact that when my party was government, Conservative ministers of defence overturned decisions by the panel that made those decisions.

This is about getting it corrected. Now that government supports the motion, I expect it to correct it. The question has really become this. When will it pay back the troops that were shortchanged this money since September 1? When will they get that danger pay back? When will it ensure that, going forward, the 300-plus members of the Canadian Armed Forces deployed in Kuwait will maintain their danger pay benefits and all the tax relief to which they are entitled?

Finally, this is about respecting the brave men and women in the Canadian Armed Forces, and the military families. It is one thing to put out all sorts of flowery language, but honestly, this is about leadership, stepping up, and getting the job done for them.

National DefenceAdjournment ProceedingsPrivate Members’ Business

8 p.m.

Liberal

Jean Rioux Liberal Saint-Jean, QC

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are very familiar with the current program because they instituted it. They know full well that our government is bringing changes to their system to get rid of its negative impact.

The government is transparent and applying the established rules. No one has lost any income to date. In the meantime, the Conservative Party has posted this matter on its website in an attempt to score political points. Instead of helping us research and implement sustainable solutions, it would rather play petty politics at the expense of our troops and their families.

The minister has become personally involved in this file. He knows what the families of our troops experience and he knows how tax relief and other allowances can help ease some of the stress caused by these deployments. All members of the House are in agreement on this.

Status of WomenAdjournment ProceedingsPrivate Members’ Business

8 p.m.

NDP

Sheila Malcolmson NDP Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC

Mr. Speaker, I had the great pleasure and honour of representing Canada at the United Nations last week for a full week. The convention carries on this week as well. Women from around the globe are part of the annual convention on the status of women. This is the 61st year of the UN Commission on the Status of Women to end discrimination against women.

I was very glad to be included in the Minister of Status of Women's delegation. We were able to absorb a lot of the teachings from around the world. We heard, more than anything, in every single session, which were all focused on women's economic justice, what we can do as leaders in our countries to remove barriers to women's economic success. Every time the solutions of pay equity and child care kept coming up as ways to alleviate economic and domestic pressures on women and allow them to participate more fully in the economy.

We heard a lot about the disproportionate load of unpaid care that women tend to take on in families, whether it is early on looking after infants, or looking after aging parents near their end of life or helping with palliative care, or the in-between domestic housework, although certainly in Canada men are really stepping up on that front. We heard again and again from other countries that a significant piece of the economic problem for women is having to take part-time work so they can accommodate the in-between work.

We heard about the impact of political gender-based violence against elected women. There were a number of sessions on this. It was raised in question period in 2016, on the occasion when Sandra Jansen, a member of the Alberta legislative assembly stood in that House and in a very powerful way described the misogyny and sexism that she has faced in her job and particularly online.

During the course of the convention last week, the Inter-Parliamentary Union tabled a report, a global look at the kind of sexual violence women parliamentarians around the world face in the course of their public service. It was extremely troubling. Of the women parliamentarians from 39 countries who were surveyed, 41.8% have received extremely humiliating or sexually charged images of themselves through social media. Social media has become the primary place in which psychological violence is perpetrated against women parliamentarians.

The IPU also reported that 65% of women parliamentarians said that they had been subjected often to humiliating sexist remarks during their parliamentary term. This is a problem, of course, because we are trying to encourage more women to get into politics and government. Just two weeks ago, all the seats in the House, except for one, were filled by women who took the place of MPs. More women were in the House than had ever been in the entire history of Canada.

I would like to know from the government, following on our conversation from last year, what it is doing to protect women parliamentarians from this kind of political harassment that can affect their ability to serve the public.

Status of WomenAdjournment ProceedingsPrivate Members’ Business

8:05 p.m.

Winnipeg South Manitoba

Liberal

Terry Duguid LiberalParliamentary Secretary for Status of Women

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for all her hard work at the United Nations last week in New York. I was very pleased to join her and the delegation of the Minister of Status of Women.

I also want to take a moment to commend the hon. member and the Standing Committee on the Status of Women for all their hard work, leading to their new report this week entitled, “Taking Action to End Violence Against Young Women and Girls in Canada”. I am confident this report will help to engage Canadians in finding solutions, and we must all be part of the solution, men and women.

I want to add my voice to that of the hon. member, the Minister of Status of Women, and all members of this place who share a profound disgust at the misogyny that women in politics must endure. Violent and sexual language are of course forms of gender-based violence that take place in homes, workplaces, communities, and online in the cyberworld that must never be tolerated anywhere.

The federal government fully understands the profound damage gender-based violence has on a woman, her family, and her community. That is why we are taking a multifaceted approach to addressing violence against women and girls in all its forms. It is why we have put in place a number of important measures to address it since taking office.

Last summer, we established a national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. It will examine and report on the systemic causes behind the violence that indigenous women and girls experience, and their greater vulnerability to that violence, by looking for patterns and underlying factors that explain why higher levels of violence occur.

To inform the development of a strategy addressing gender-based violence, we have consulted with a great many Canadians, including service providers, researchers, academics and survivors from across our country. This strategy will also build on the important work already under way on this critical issue in the provinces and territories.

Another key action by the federal government involves ensuring that women and their families have a place to turn in their moment of need through access to shelter and housing. The Minister of Status of Women has announced federal support of over $1 million for a project by the Canadian Network of Women’s Shelters & Transition Houses, the largest federal funding this organization has received, to examine the multiple roles played by the shelter sector in supporting women who are victims of violence.

These concrete actions underscore the federal commitment to reducing and preventing all forms of gender-based violence.

Status of WomenAdjournment ProceedingsPrivate Members’ Business

8:10 p.m.

NDP

Sheila Malcolmson NDP Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my colleague's intervention. However, I did not hear anything about how to make women in this Parliament safe from sexual political harassment that will interfere with their jobs.

I also want to say as loudly as I can that although we are ringing the alarm on this kind of harassment, I am concerned that it will have a dampening effect on the enthusiasm of other women to volunteer for this work, to put themselves forward, young women in particular. At the United Nations, and on some of our Canadian panels, we heard ministers from Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Alberta, and Ontario all describe very personal experiences of being harassed in the job because of their gender.

The government voted down my colleague's bill, the member Burnaby South, which would have created incentives to elect more women. It voted down proportional representation, which would elect more women. Therefore, I would like to know the measures—

Status of WomenAdjournment ProceedingsPrivate Members’ Business

8:10 p.m.

Liberal

The Assistant Deputy Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota

The hon. parliamentary secretary.

Status of WomenAdjournment ProceedingsPrivate Members’ Business

8:10 p.m.

Liberal

Terry Duguid Liberal Winnipeg South, MB

Mr. Speaker, it may surprise some Canadians that misogyny, as well as violent and sexual language, are front and centre in our political conversation today. Unfortunately, these are not abstract topics for women and girls in our society, and that would include parliamentarians.

We must therefore continue speaking out against misogyny and sexism wherever they appear, in our politics, on social media, or in our communities. I encourage all Canadians to join this conversation about changing attitudes. The only way we can build an inclusive, tolerant society for women, girls, and all Canadians is by acting together.

Status of WomenAdjournment ProceedingsPrivate Members’ Business

8:10 p.m.

Liberal

The Assistant Deputy Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota

The motion to adjourn the House is now deemed to have been adopted. Accordingly the House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 2 p.m. pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).

(The House adjourned at 8:13 p.m.)