Debates of March 24th, 2021

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Act

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I declare the motion defeated.

The House resumed from March 22 consideration of the motion.

Emancipation Day

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Pursuant to order made on Monday, January 25, the House will now proceed to the taking of the deferred recorded division on Motion No. 36 under Private Members' Business in the name of the member for Richmond Hill.

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

Vote #76

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I declare the motion carried.

(Motion agreed to)

Opposition Motion—Plan for Reopening the Economy

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Pursuant to an order made on Monday, January 25, 2021, the House will now proceed to the taking of the deferred recorded division on the motion of Ms. Rempel Garner relating to the Business of Supply.

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

Vote #77

Business of Supply

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I declare the motion defeated.

The House resumed from March 23 consideration of the motion that Bill C-230, An Act respecting the development of a national strategy to redress environmental racism, be read the second time and referred to a committee.

National Strategy to Redress Environmental Racism Act

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Pursuant to order made on Monday, January 25, the House will now proceed to the taking of the deferred recorded division on the motion at second reading stage of Bill C-230.

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

Vote #78

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I declare the motion carried. Accordingly, the bill stands referred to the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development.

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

I wish to inform the House that because of the deferred recorded divisions, Government Orders will be extended by 72 minutes.

The hon. member for Mégantic—L’Érable on a point of order.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, as the last vote was taking place, we were unable to access the site and see each of our colleagues' votes simultaneously. I tried to refresh the page, but it did not work. I think it is important that the system be fully functional so that all votes count in the House.

I would ask you to take note of that and check what happened from a technical standpoint. I do think it is very important that we be able to see how our colleagues are voting as we go.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I thank the hon. member for Mégantic—L’Érable. That is a very good point. We will check with our technicians to make sure it does not happen again.

Order. It is my duty pursuant to Standing Order 38 to inform the House that the questions to be raised tonight at the time of adjournment are as follows: the hon. member for Edmonton Strathcona, Natural Resources; the hon. member for Nanaimo—Ladysmith, The Environment; the hon. member for South Okanagan—West Kootenay, The Environment.

Interparliamentary Delegations

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34(1), I have the honour to present to the House, in both official languages, the report of the delegation of the Canadian Branch of the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie. This report concerns its participation in the Bureau meeting and in the 46th annual session of the APF, held by video conference from January 19 to 29, 2021.

I would like to thank all the staff who supported the members and senators. They did an excellent job.

Finance

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Madam Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the fourth report of the Standing Committee on Finance in relation to Bill C-14, an act to implement certain provisions of the economic statement tabled in Parliament on November 30, 2020, and other measures.

The committee has studied the bill and has decided to report the bill back to the House without amendment.

Canada Elections Act

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-279, An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act (voting age).

Madam Speaker, it is an honour to present this bill, not for the first time but as a reintroduction with some modifications, to change the Elections Act such that Canadians aged 16 years and older can vote.

Certainly we see a crisis in the youngest demographic in this country not voting. Clear empirical evidence that we reviewed when we had a special committee on electoral reform pointed in the direction that people who start voting stick with their voting habit, but if we do not vote when we become eligible to vote at age 18, we are unlikely to start at 25 or 30. Voting at age 16 is a key way of refreshing, restarting and rebooting our democracy.

I note parenthetically that there was a similar bill that I also supported before the House, Bill C-240, from the member for Vancouver Kingsway, as well as one started in the other place by independent Senator McPhedran, Bill S-209. I certainly hope the House will be able to debate and vote on one of these worthy pieces of legislation to improve the state of our democracy.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

Haida Gwaii Residents Tax Deduction Act

[Taylor Bachrach, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-280, an act to amend the Income Tax Act with regard to residents of northern or intermediate zones.

Madam Speaker, Haida Gwaii is well known across Canada, not only for its spectacular beauty and the rich culture of the Haida people, but also for its remoteness. To get to Haida Gwaii from Prince Rupert in good weather is a seven-hour ferry ride. It is hard to get any farther west in Canada.

Residents of Haida Gwaii are hardy and resilient. They call the islands home for all kinds of reasons, but cheap groceries is not one of them. In fact, most goods and services cost more on Haida Gwaii than on the mainland. The biggest cost is the ferry or plane trip to Prince Rupert, which many families must take several times per year, whether for medical or dental appointments or for other essential reasons.

The northern residents deduction is a tax deduction meant to offset the high cost of living in Canada's remote communities. It also helps attract skilled workers and promotes economic development. However, the current eligibility criteria for the northern deduction is deeply flawed. Back in the nineties, the federal government decided to change the criteria according to arbitrary lines on a map. The problem is that those lines do not include all of Canada's remote communities that struggle with high costs of living.

When the eligibility criteria changed, Haida Gwaii was downgraded from the northern—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

May I interrupt the member? I would ask for just a short summary of the purpose of the bill, so that we can eventually get to the speech when the time comes for debate, please.

[Taylor Bachrach, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Madam Speaker, the bill I am introducing today would amend the Income Tax Act to explicitly make the residents of Haida Gwaii eligible for the full northern residents tax deduction. Island residents have been pushing for this for over a decade and it is long overdue.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB]

Madam Speaker, there have been discussions among the parties, and if you seek it, I hope you will find unanimous consent for the following motion: That given that Greece is celebrating the 200th anniversary of its declaration of independence in 1821; that Greece and the Greeks have contributed so much to the world; that the Parthenon marbles are a universal symbol of Hellenic and world civilization; and that this House passed a resolution, Motion No. 318, in the 37th Parliament, supporting the return of the Parthenon marbles to Greece, therefore, may the House join in celebrating the 200th anniversary of Greek independence and urge the government to call upon the United Kingdom to return the Parthenon marbles to Greece in order to be restored in their authentic context, as the marbles represent a unique and integral part of world heritage and should be returned to their country of origin in this year of the bicentennial celebration of Greek independence.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

All those opposed to the hon. member moving the motion will please say nay.

[Some hon. members]

Nay.

Human Rights

[Marty Morantz, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

Madam Speaker, today I am presenting three petitions on behalf of concerned Canadians, all regarding the unrest, violence, human rights abuses and humanitarian crisis in the Tigray region of Ethiopia.

These petitioners are requesting of the Government of Canada to, one, call for an end to violence and for restraint from all sides and parties involved in the Tigray conflict; two, allow humanitarian access to the region and independent monitoring; three, call for international investigations into credible reports of war crimes and gross violations of human rights law; four, engage directly and consistently with the Ethiopian and Eritrean governments on this conflict, and finally, promote short-, medium- and long-term elections monitoring in Ethiopia.

The Environment

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Madam Speaker, I rise today to present petition e-2962 on behalf of one of my Davenport residents, Christopher Keefer. This petition has received almost 6,000 signatures and has been duly certified. It concerns the use of nuclear power in Canada as an option for a more environmentally friendly energy source.

The petitioners call upon the Government of Canada to uphold its commitments under the Paris Agreement by maintaining its CANDU nuclear reactor fleet in Canada and abroad and to continue to support research and deployment of small modular reactors.

As Canada looks to fulfill our commitment to achieve net zero by 2050, we have to put all options on the table in order to reduce our emissions. This petition presents one great idea of how we might be able to do that.