Madam Speaker, as the member of Parliament for Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, I take this opportunity to thank the good people of my riding for their support and words of encouragement. It is an honour to represent them in the Parliament of Canada.
Earlier in this session, I asked a direct question for the Prime Minister about the disability tax credit promoters cottage industry that had prospered under his government. It collects exorbitant fees from disabled Canadians for a service that I provide free of charge to my constituents.
Seven years ago, I introduced a private member's bill, Bill C-462, restricting the fees charged by promoters of the disability tax credit. The Prime Minister at the time voted in favour of that legislation as did all the members of Parliament. My intention in sponsoring that legislation was straightforward. I wanted to see increased protection for disabled Canadians from the predatory practices of certain individuals who referred to themselves as tax credit promoters. When I found out that some individuals were being charged 20%, 30%, or 40% of the tax credit, I knew action had to be taken.
The last time I posed a question on this topic, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Revenue chose to insult disabled Canadians by not giving them a relevant response in answering my question. This time, the member for Delta, aptly renamed the minister for virtue signalling to the disabled, was tagged by the Prime Minister to insult disabled Canadians by giving a different non-answer to why the government had not implemented Bill C-462, an act restricting the fees charged by promoters of the disability tax credit. The legislation to protect disabled Canadians was voted on and passed unanimously by Parliament.
The following is an email I received from a constituent about one of the biggest disability tax credit promoters in Canada. It is one of many emails I have received from disabled Canadians who have been taken advantage of, thanks to the policy of the government to ignore them. It illustrates the situation the government condones every day it delays implementing Bill C-462, an act restricting the fees charged by promoters of the disability tax credit. The email states:
“I live in Arnprior with my wife, 75 years old and basically bedridden. I'm contacting you because I don't know where else I can go, and I remembered a few years ago you were investigating into this company and were going to introduce a bill to halt their practices. Anyhow, about 10 years ago, my wife unwittingly contacted them to secure outstanding disability payments from CRA. She thought she was contacting a government agency, and they did get her a little over $9,000, then sent her a bill for $3,500. We thought that was unreasonable so we consulted Legal Aid. They told us that it was definitely unreasonable and ignore them. So my wife never recognized the debt. That was 10 years ago.
Then in January of this year, we received a bill for $11,000 sent by a company called Veritas. I thought it was a scam because we didn't owe anyone $11,000. About a month ago, we received another bill for over $9,000 from a law firm, saying if we didn't pay them by November 14, they would file bankruptcy against my wife. They've since changed it to $6,800. My wife earns $1,800 a month from CPP, old age security and a small pension.
I'm sorry this is so long, but I'm hoping you can help us. Thank you.”
That charge is almost 40%, and I am told that this tax credit promoter drives a Maserati, which the Prime Minister knows is a very expensive Italian car.
The minister of virtue signalling to the disabled brags about doing things behind the scenes. How about working for disabled Canadians behind the scenes and getting the regulations to enact Bill C-462 done?