House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2011, with 41% of the vote.
Taxation December 4th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, the Liberal Party's position is very clear: the credits must be refundable in order to ensure that they are given to people who really need them. That is the most important thing.
Five million women, particularly single mothers, are not entitled to receive the tax credits. Like the others, they have children. Like the others, they have parents. They are in the same situation except that they have less money. Why not give them the same access to tax credits?
Taxation December 4th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, a full 8.4 million of the people who file their income tax in fact do not have any taxable income. They are therefore ineligible for the income tax credits that are given to people who have an income. I would like to ask the minister once again: Why would the Government of Canada not make its hockey equipment tax credit, its music lesson tax credit, its caregiver tax credit and its disability tax credit available to people who really, really need it?
Persons with Disabilities December 3rd, 2012
Mr. Speaker, it is a very simple fact that most of the tax credits that the government has introduced for all kinds of things, for sports equipment, piano lessons, whatever it may be, do not apply, are not refundable for people who do not have taxable income. There are millions of people who do not have taxable income, 9 million families.
Why not make these tax credits refundable? In particular, why not make the tax credits refundable for those people with disabilities? It is a very simple and basic change and a very simple question.
Persons with Disabilities December 3rd, 2012
Mr. Speaker, one thing we know is that, with a significant slowdown in economic growth, inequality in our society is only going to get worse. This is a growing problem.
Once again, I am asking the minister the question that he did not answer: why not make tax credits for people with disabilities refundable?
Persons with Disabilities December 3rd, 2012
Mr. Speaker, one thing we do know is that with slower growth, inequality is only going to be increasing in the country. It poses a very serious challenge, particularly to those who are disabled.
I have a very simple question for the government. The government has a disability tax credit, but it only applies to those people who are disabled and who have an income. Would the government consider making this income tax credit refundable?
Food Safety November 29th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Prime Minister. Does he not think that it is clearly time to look into what happened?
A review must be done and it must be independent. Once again, considering the new memo that was released, there was definitely a problem. The memo was changed because there was a problem. This needs to be resolved through an independent review, which cannot be conducted by the government, but rather by an outside party that is completely independent of the government.
Food Safety November 29th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, the fact remains that the meat recall crisis, I would remind the Prime Minister, was the largest meat recall anywhere in the world ever with respect to what took place. I would like to ask the Prime Minister this. If in fact there was no problem with the original memo, why was the memorandum changed?
I would remind him that the first memo says, “Your first action should be to have the issue dealt with without a line stoppage”. Would the Prime Minister not agree with me that first action of any inspector is to ensure, above and beyond any line stoppage, that in fact the health and safety of Canadians is always the number one priority?
Food Safety November 29th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, the first memo that was sent out by CFIA in 2008 says as follows:
When stationed at this position ensure that non Japan eligible carcasses are not inspected for spinal cord/dura-mater, OCD defects and minor ingesta (Ignore them).
It goes on to say to ignore them.
How can the Prime Minister say that everything is perfectly okay when in fact the memo was changed? It was changed because there is a problem.
Ethics November 28th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I am experienced enough to know when a minister is refusing to answer a question. I am experienced enough to know when a political party refuses to take responsibility for actions which have already been censured by an independent organization. I am experienced enough to know when the Conservative Party of Canada is refusing to take responsibility for actions which the Speaker of the House of Commons has referred to as “reprehensible”. When is that minister going to take responsibility for what has taken place?
Ethics November 28th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, the matter has not been settled at all.
The question is clear: when will the Conservative Party clearly apologize for its malfeasance, which has even been censured by the organization governing the polling industry? Campaign Research lied about the hon. member for Mount Royal and, to date, the Conservative Party has not taken responsibility for what happened.
When will the Conservative Party take responsibility?