House of Commons Hansard #273 of the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was money.

Topics

Canada Elections ActPrivate Members' Business

6:05 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan

I declare the motion lost.

The House resumed from March 1 consideration of the motion.

Environment and Sustainable DevelopmentCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

6:05 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan

The House will now proceed to the taking of the deferred recorded division on the motion to concur in the ninth report of the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development concerning the recommendation not to proceed further with Bill C-323.

(The House divided on the motion, which was agreed to on the following division:)

Vote #465

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

March 21st, 2018 / 6:10 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan

I declare the motion carried.

Accordingly, pursuant to Standing Order 97.1(2)(d), the proceedings on Bill C-323 shall come to an end.

The House resumed from March 2 consideration of the motion that Bill C-375, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (presentence report), be read the second time and referred to a committee.

Criminal CodePrivate Members' Business

6:10 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan

The House will now proceed to the taking of the deferred recorded division on the motion at second reading stage of Bill C-375, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (presentence report).

(The House divided on the motion, which was agreed to on the following division:)

Vote #466

Criminal CodePrivate Members' Business

6:20 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan

I declare the motion carried.

Consequently, this bill is referred to the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights.

(Bill read the second time and referred to a committee)

The House resumed from March 20 consideration of the motion that C-373, An Act respecting a federal framework on distracted driving, be read the second time and referred to a committee.

Federal Framework on Distracted Driving ActPrivate Members' Business

6:25 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan

The House will now proceed to the taking of the deferred recorded division on the motion at second reading stage of Bill C-373 under private members' business.

(The House divided on the motion, which was negatived on the following division:)

Vote #467

Federal Framework on Distracted Driving ActPrivate Members' Business

6:35 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan

I declare the motion lost.

It being 6:36 p.m., the House will now proceed to the consideration of private members' business as listed on today's Order Paper.

The House proceeded to the consideration of Bill C-344, An Act to amend the Department of Public Works and Government Services Act (community benefit), as reported (without amendment) from the committee.

Department of Public Works and Government Services ActPrivate Members' Business

6:35 p.m.

Liberal

The Assistant Deputy Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota

There being no motions at report stage, the House will now proceed, without debate, to the putting of the question on the motion to concur in the bill at report stage.

Department of Public Works and Government Services ActPrivate Members' Business

6:40 p.m.

Liberal

Ramesh Sangha Liberal Brampton Centre, ON

moved that the bill be concurred in.

Department of Public Works and Government Services ActPrivate Members' Business

6:40 p.m.

Liberal

The Assistant Deputy Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota

The question is on the motion. Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

Department of Public Works and Government Services ActPrivate Members' Business

6:40 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

No.

Department of Public Works and Government Services ActPrivate Members' Business

6:40 p.m.

Liberal

The Assistant Deputy Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota

All those in favour of the motion will please say yea.

Department of Public Works and Government Services ActPrivate Members' Business

6:40 p.m.

Some hon. members

Yea.

Department of Public Works and Government Services ActPrivate Members' Business

6:40 p.m.

Liberal

The Assistant Deputy Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota

All those opposed will please say nay.

Department of Public Works and Government Services ActPrivate Members' Business

6:40 p.m.

Some hon. members

Nay.

Department of Public Works and Government Services ActPrivate Members' Business

6:40 p.m.

Liberal

The Assistant Deputy Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota

In my opinion the nays have it.

And five or more members having risen:

Pursuant to Standing Order 98, the recorded division stands deferred until Wednesday, March 28, immediately before the time provided for private members' business.

A motion to adjourn the House under Standing Order 38 deemed to have been moved.

TaxationAdjournment Proceedings

6:40 p.m.

Conservative

Pat Kelly Conservative Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB

Mr. Speaker, several months ago I asked a question in the House regarding the disability tax credit and the repeated assertion by the Minister of National Revenue that nothing had changed, even as thousands of disabled Canadians were denied the disability tax credit. The answer that we had that day was wholly unsatisfactory and in defiance of what was obvious evidence that there had been a substantial change made to policy that resulted in the denial of the credit for many Canadians who had applied.

Subsequently to that, in December, the government announced it had reverted to the policy that had been in place before May 2, which later confirmed there had been an enormous change in that policy.

This raises many questions of concern about a number of things at CRA, namely, the extent of ministerial control and oversight, that a minister could rise in the House day after day, question after question, and claim that nothing had changed when in fact something obviously had changed.

We have seen a troubling series of events with the department and questions about the minister's ability to oversee her department. We have witnessed things like a folio change that announced the department would begin to tax the benefits of retail employees, something of which the minister seemed to be unaware. As soon as the political storm arose from media coverage of this event, there was a quick reversal on that.

More recent we have seen other examples of serious problems at CRA that the minister has just been unable to answer.

We remain concerned about the conduct of the agency in a number of areas, be it from the call centres where calls are not answered, or incorrect information being given if people should happen to get through to the agency. That is troubling to many Canadians. We have heard other stories of vulnerable Canadians who seem to have been targeted by the agency, be it single parents, or parents of disabled Canadians besides diabetics, including those suffering from autism and their families.

Not much has changed since that question several months ago. We remain concerned. Many Canadians are concerned about the minister's ability to oversee her agency. Wait times for people who have applied for the credit are exceedingly long. At committee in the fall, testimony was given that it was taking up to 40 weeks to get an answer on the disability tax credit. We have asked questions on the Order Paper about this and we still have not received the answers we need. Many of these questions remain still unanswered.