Madam Speaker, I rise to follow up on the upcoming tax deadline and my continued concern that millions of Canadians are vulnerable to losing the benefits being renewed this July because they have not been able to get their taxes done.
The government says it cannot do it, but let us take a look at last year. We were in a pandemic, we were under lockdown and people were asked to stay at home. The government said it would move the tax deadline to September and make sure there is a smooth transition of benefits. Let us fast-forward to this year. We are in a pandemic, we are in lockdowns because we do not have enough vaccines and we are being asked to stay at home. However, the government says it is not going to move the deadline.
The reason this matters is that there are thousands of people who cannot complete their taxes at home. They do not have computers, so they are not capable of doing that. I see that. Thousands of constituents were in my office this past year and they had to cancel this month because they were asked to stay at home and not get their taxes completed.
We need to help vulnerable people and we need to make sure there is a smooth transition. The government should be compassionate and reasonable, and extend the deadline two months to help millions of Canadians out.