Wendy Lill

[Copyright Act, June 18th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I will speak briefly to Bill C-48. The NDP is in favour of the principle of the bill: Owners of copyright should be fairly compensated for their work.

Bill C-48 would be a start toward closing the loopholes in the copyright process that have been created by new technologies. It is the first in a series of copyright bills the departments of industry and heritage will be proposing to modernize our copyright laws as technology and globalization change the environment for creators of copyrighted products.

The list of issues to be tackled over the next few years is enormous. Bill C-48 is a small piece in the copyright puzzle. We must deal with: access issues; ownership of audio-visual works and photographs; database protection; digital issues; government ownership and use of copyrighted works; performers' rights; rights management in an online environment; site signal rights for broadcasters; technology enhancing learning; terms of protection; traditional knowledge and folklore; transitional periods for unpublished works; and Internet retransmission of broadcast programs which is what we are dealing with at present.

This will be an extremely complex and time consuming process. I can assure hon. members that we will all have grey hair if we are sitting in the heritage committee after having gone through each of these areas.

[Disability Tax Credit, June 13th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, last fall 106,000 vulnerable Canadians received a form letter telling them to reapply for their disability tax credit because the government no longer believed they were blind or had Down's Syndrome or schizophrenia. In response, MPs from all sides of the House wrote to the minister of revenue demanding that these letters be withdrawn and passed a unanimous committee report which recommended: a written apology to everyone who received a letter; compensation for re-certification; immediate amendments to the law to incorporate recent court decisions; plus consultations on the process and medical forms.

Will the government implement this unanimous committee report?

[Committees of the House, June 13th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, it is clear that we are looking at a government that continues to pull back on services to the most vulnerable in the community. We see it with the disability tax credit and we saw it with the Canada pension plan disability program when the government cut back the number of people eligible and reduced the amount of support. It has done this at a time when we are seeing a demographic wave of seniors who will need more and more supports if they become disabled. We need to have that completely rethought at the government level. I will be very much a part of that happening.

Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with my colleague from Sackville--Musquodoboit Valley--Eastern Shore.

[Committees of the House, June 13th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague from Acadie--Bathurst spoke with a great deal of passion. As parliamentarians we have all heard from the people who come into our riding offices telling us how desperate they are for disability support and assistance to buy wheelchairs, hearing devices and respite services for families caring for people who have multiple disabilities.

We cannot deny the fact that we are looking at a population that is incredibly disadvantaged. We have a population that has inadequate income support and rehabilitation programs. One out of three severely disabled Canadians live in poverty. At least 40% of Canadians with disabilities are unemployed. Many workplaces are completely closed to persons with disabilities. They are just not able to enter the workforce. Workers with disabilities often are not covered by basic employment standards, minimum wage legislation, occupational health and safety and workers' compensation. Most transportation systems still remain inaccessible to persons with disabilities. Students with disabilities are often without the support they need to exercise their right to an education. There is a shortage of affordable and accessible housing for persons with disabilities.

The rate of disabilities in the aboriginal community is twice that of the general population. Women, aboriginal and visible minorities with disabilities face double and even triple the discrimination. On top of all of this, we have systemic discrimination and harassment by the government with this very punitive measure to try to haul back a very small tax credit that gave some level of support for some of the most vulnerable people in our society. It is just a disgrace.

[Committees of the House, June 13th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I move that the seventh report of the Standing Committee on Human Resources Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, presented in the House on Thursday, March 21, be concurred in.

Mr. Speaker,I will be sharing my time with the member from Sackville—Musquodoboit Valley—Eastern Shore.

I rise today to draw the attention of the government to a very important report by the disability subcommittee on the issue of the disability tax credit and the government's recent initiative to have over 100,000 Canadians with disabilities requalify for the disability tax credit.

The reason I rise on this issue today is because the House is about to leave for the summer recess and we as parliamentarians will have at least a break from the regimen of this place. However, as we all know and hear daily from constituents, for Canadians across the country with disabilities, there is no respite and no break from the relentless struggles for those persons to eke out a living, to maintain self-esteem and a sense of hope in the face of enormous obstacles.

While MPs and the eye of the government will not be focused as intently on the legislative process and the reports of committees over the summer months, the real lives of persons with disabilities will continue to experience the hardships brought about by the recent decision of the government to embark on the arbitrary review of eligibility for over 100,000 Canadians.

Over the past several months 106,000 Canadians, who currently receive the disability tax credit, received a letter from Canada Customs and Revenue Agency that states:

After reviewing your file, we have determined that we do not have enough information to continue to allow your claim for the 2001 and future tax years.

The letter goes on to tell the citizens that they must reapply to maintain their benefit.

The House of Commons subcommittee on the status of persons with disabilities, a subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Human Resource Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, held hearings over many months on the matter facing Canadians with disabilities, specifically focusing on the form change, the view of the disability organizations and the medical community.

We have heard many things that broke our hearts, that angered us and hardened our resolve to do better for persons with disabilities. A mother, whose adult daughter has an intellectual disability, told us that the whole family had to work so hard to focus on the daughter's strengths and abilities. They will now have to take cap in hand to a doctor to focus on her disabilities to get a small tax credit to assist with the many costs which disabilities bring to individuals and families.

We heard from people with lifelong hearing, sight impairment and disabling genetic disorders who were being told that they must spend $30 to $150 to have a doctor fill out a form that says: “Yes, they are still blind. Yes, they are still deaf. Yes, they still have Down's syndrome”. The whole scheme is so punitive, so unjust and so painful really for the persons involved.

New Democratic members of parliament have received hundreds of calls from Canadians who are being harassed by this policy. Under the DTC, an individual or independent may claim a non-refundable credit of $960. This credit is designed to provide a measure of financial relief for the increased cost of living with a disability. Approximately 200,000 Canadians claim that credit annually, but if the government has its way that number will be significantly decreased. Here are some of the individuals who will no longer be eligible for the DTC.

These are some of the horror stories we have heard as New Democrat parliamentarians. A former public service employee from Atlantic Canada had one leg amputated and a severe neurological disorder. She got the DTC letter in November and her doctor is now reluctant to re-approve, saying that she can technically walk 50 metres with her artificial leg. However her leg is not always on and even when it is, she cannot walk on an incline or a ramp. She will not appeal this. She is very frightened that she will lose her LTD and her CPP disability benefits if the Liberals can identify her. It is a shameful example of people being targeted by the government on such an important issue.

A Winnipeg woman had been receiving the credit since 1991. During a recent medical appointment caused by the CCRA letter, her doctor informed her that she no longer qualified for the disability tax credit. The reason: thanks to her leg braces she is now able to walk somewhat. As she has said, she cannot do up her buttons and she cannot get out of bed by herself but she is now technically able to walk. If she falls down she would be unable to get up. She is unable to be alone. She is now unable to receive the disability tax credit.

It appears to any thinking, caring person that persons with disabilities, with this initiative around the tax credit, are being targeted and harassed by this government. They are not being supported. They are not being assisted.

We have seen many other examples of that over the course of the last several years. We have seen the CPP disability program shrink. We have seen the benefits shrink and the eligibility criteria hardened. We have seen the elimination of the Canada assistance program, CAP, which was essential in providing disability support for persons across the country. We have seen an enormous patchwork of quality of various kinds of services available for people with the same disabilities across the country. I have personally seen in my community a crisis in education for young people with disabilities who no longer are getting the support they need for them to have equal citizenship in Canada. Why is this happening? Why are we facing this?

In 1982 the charter of rights and freedoms was passed, declaring that all Canadians were entitled to equal protection and equal benefit under the law without discrimination based on race, nation or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability. The charter, combined with disability clauses in the provincial human rights code, protects persons with disabilities from some of the most blatant forms of discrimination.

Canadians with disabilities are a long way from the promised land of full participation, equality and access. Many of the nearly five million Canadians are facing poverty, lack of housing and a severe hardship in the supports that they need to live.

I would like to give time for my colleague to speak on this issue as well, but I would like to tell the House the points that were made in our report of the disability subcommittee. I would like to read them into the record. I want to ensure that these initiatives are looked at very carefully and immediately by the government and that it acts on them. I will then pass the floor to my colleague so he can speak on this.

Disability issues do not take a summer vacation. At the conclusion of our hearings the subcommittee tabled a report on April 21, 2002, critical of the government. The members of the subcommittee recommended the following.

One, that the CCRA apologize to the 106 Canadians who received a poorly explained letter from the agency indicating that they were no longer eligible for the DTC despite the fact that these individuals had been receiving this credit for anywhere between six and 17 years.

Two, we believe they need compensation for the expenses of those who have successfully recertified.

Three, we believe there should be no new reassessment of claimants until the certification process is revised and then new procedures and forms put in place.

Four, we also believe there should be an immediate amendment to the Income Tax Act so that it incorporates recent court decisions.

Five, we believe that consultation with disability communities and medical professionals needs to happen to draft amendments to the Income Tax Act that spell out exactly the eligibility criteria for the tax credit that reflects the reality of living with a disability.

Six, we believe that we need to have an immediate redesigning of form T-2201 that establishes eligibility for the tax credit and streamlining approval process.

Seven, we believe an educational campaign is necessary for the public, for medical practitioners and tax preparers. We need an evaluation of the disability tax credit and a re-examination of all tax measures affecting persons with disabilities.

We rise today to make sure that everyone in the House and that the government is aware that the disability tax credit is an issue on the minds of hundreds of thousands of disabled persons who are feeling the crunch from this cynical and very punitive measure.

[La Soirée du hockey, June 12th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I guess I have to just go back to the fact that we have some of the best minds in the country who feel otherwise. My supplementary question also is for the Minister of Canadian Heritage.

After 50 years La Soirée du hockey is slated to disappear. French Canadians deserve to be able to tune in and enjoy our national winter sport, but with the new contract between RDS and the Canadiens, many francophones will not be able to see our national sport in their own language.

Will the government bring all the parties together to make sure La Soirée du hockey will survive by covering other Canadian teams so francophones can see hockey in their own language?

[The Media, June 12th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the heritage minister and the government House leader who promised us a reply on Friday.

Friday saw another urgent plea for the government to abandon its policies of unfettered media concentration. This plea came from 40 of Canada's greatest journalists sponsored by the Southam family. They want the government to consider tax incentives for media companies that preserve journalistic independence, measures to promote journalistic freedom and stronger tax policies to protect our culture from foreign ownership.

These things have to come from government. They are outside the terms of the standing committee study. Will the minister act on these pleas today?

[Nancy Riche, June 12th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, it is a great honour for me to rise in the House today to celebrate the life, work and contributions of Nancy Riche, the outgoing secretary treasurer of the Canadian Labour Congress.

Nancy Riche has held her current position for over three years and before that was the executive vice-president of the CLC since 1986. Nancy has fought passionately for women's rights, public health care, unemployment insurance, workplace safety, fair trade and social justice. And she never gives up.

As a Newfoundlander through and through she has a comic turn to her phrase which has brought many a house down in laughter. Nancy can chair a meeting better than anyone in the country, present company included. She has a clarity of purpose and a fire in her eye which literally burns through resistance and gets right to the core of the issue, which for Nancy is always equality and fairness for the working people of this country.

The New Democratic Party wishes to salute the efforts of this amazing woman, this fighter for social justice. We wish her good luck in all that she does in what we are sure will be an even more colourful future.

[Supply, June 6th, 2002]

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Bras d'Or—Cape Breton for his comments on this issue. I have to agree with him that I am not an accountant either.

I want to ask him, as a member of parliament for Nova Scotia such as I am myself, how he thinks that we can find ways of making equalization payments more fair for provinces such as our own and to deal with some crises we are facing in terms of health care and education.

I would say that in terms of health care we know that we have higher rates of cancer. The member knows that himself from his own experience in Cape Breton. Our province in fact does have a special need in terms of its health care issues.

We also have a special need in terms of our special education issues. We are presently $23 million short of what is required to provide special education services in the province. I see on a daily basis the impact of lack of resources on our school system, on our ability to make the whole idea of inclusion work in the schools.

As a member of parliament for Nova Scotia what I see is that we do have a two tier system of health care and education by virtue of the fact that we do not have the resources to provide the same high quality level of service for all Nova Scotians.

Again, in light of this debate we are having today around the issue of overpayment, I will ask him, as a member of the government, about this. He mentioned that the calculation of equalization is and will be affected by this issue. How can we rethink the whole issue of equalization for have not provinces such as Nova Scotia and some other Atlantic provinces?

[The Media, June 6th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, today saw another urgent plea for the government to abandon its policy to allow unfettered media concentration. This plea came from 40 of Canada's greatest journalists, sponsored by the Southams, one of our greatest newspaper families. They want tax incentives for media companies that preserve journalistic independence, measures to promote journalistic freedom, and stronger tax policies to protect our culture from foreign ownership.

These measures have to come from the government. They are outside the terms of the standing committee study on broadcasting.

Will the government act on these measures now?