John Aldag

[Komagata Maru, May 19th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday marked an important moment in the history of this country. It recognized that Canada does not have a perfect history, that we have on occasion stumbled and been unjust. It also recognized that healing wounds is important, that being an example to the rest of the world must necessarily entail admitting to our own wrongdoings, and that we must address head-on when our nation has fallen short of its potential.

The Komagata Maru incident was a dark moment in our history that should be a shame to all Canadians, and remains deeply painful to Indo-Canadians to this day. However, it is also a reflection of how we have changed, opened, and become more tolerant in a Canada that is welcoming to all.

I thank the victims' descendants for their patience and the endurance they have shown through this dark episode in our history.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 1., May 10th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, as I noted, there has been discussion on the items contained within the budget. For me, a really critical piece is the Canada child benefit. My understanding is that the legislation needs to be passed for that program to roll out.

In my riding of Cloverdale—Langley City, during the campaign and right through until today, the number one issue I keep hearing about is the cost of living for Canadians and trying to ahead, particularly families with young children. This bill would do great things for families that are struggling to make ends meet, or that want to put their kids in activities.

We need to move forward with the discussion, the vote on the bill, and the implementation of it, so we can get the funds flowing to families that need it the most.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 1., May 10th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, as we heard this morning, Canadians have been talking about what is in the budget since the beginning of the campaign. We were elected to bring forward the many commitments included in Bill C-15. There has been a lot of discussion. Members have been talking about this over the last couple of days. Our government feels it is time to move forward with the implementation of the bill and the very important measures contained in it.

We made promises, such as the Canada child benefit, that are very important to Canadians. My constituents are looking forward to that. We need the bill in place so we can start paying those benefits to Canadians in July. Therefore, I support moving forward with the vote to get this bill in play.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 1., May 10th, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, in continuing to address Bill C-15, it is not every day that I begin by speaking about feminine hygiene products. However, the redressing of unequal taxation of essential goods is an important issue for all Canadians. Currently, feminine hygiene products are subject to GST and HST as goods that are considered to be non-essential. I think we can all agree that this is a misguided policy, and if not sexist, it at least is based entirely outside the experience of Canadians. I am proud to say that Bill C-15 would rectify this disproportionate taxation of women by removing the GST-HST on feminine hygiene products.

The next measure of budget 2016 that I will address is division 2 at part 4, which amends the Canadian Forces Members and Veterans Re-establishment and Compensation Act. I wish to highlight five key improvements.

First, the bill would replace the permanent impairment allowance with the career impact allowance to better support veterans who have had their career options limited by a service-related illness or injury.

Second, it would increase the percentage in the formula used to calculate the earnings loss benefit. This benefit would provide income replacement of 90% of gross pre-release military salary for injured veterans who are participating in a Veterans Affairs Canada rehabilitation or vocational assistance program for those who have injuries preventing them from suitable and gainful employment. The benefit would also keep up with inflation and not be capped at 2% indexation.

Third, the act would specify when a disability award becomes payable and clarify the formula used to calculate the amount of a disability award.

Fourth, the disability award would be indexed to inflation, in line with other new veterans charter benefits, and higher awards would be paid retroactively to all veterans who have received an award since the introduction of the new veterans charter in 2006.

Fifth, the act would also improve the Last Post Fund to provide financial assistance to the estates of eligible deceased veterans toward the cost of burial and funeral services. The estate exemption for families of low-income veterans would also be increased from roughly $12,000 to $35,000.

Canada's veterans deserve our care, compassion, and respect. The above measures would greatly improve income support to disabled veterans, including both veterans transitioning to the civilian workforce and those with injuries preventing them from suitable and gainful employment.

However, our government's support for veterans does not stop there. Over the next year, in consultation with the veterans community, the government will work to find a way to better streamline and simplify the system of financial support programs currently offered by Veterans Affairs Canada and National Defence for veterans and their families.

In addition to helping young Canadians, middle-class families, and our respected veterans, the government is committed to supporting Canada's seniors.

Single seniors are at nearly three times the risk of living at a lower income than seniors generally, which is why budget 2016 aims to increase the single rate of the guaranteed income supplement for the lowest-income pensioners by up to $947 annually. This enhancement would more than double the current maximum guaranteed income supplement top-up benefit and would represent a 10% increase in the total maximum guaranteed income supplement benefits available to the lowest-income single seniors.

Additionally, budget 2016 will repeal section 2.2 of the Old Age Security Act, which increases the age of eligibility to receive old age security and guaranteed income supplement benefits from 65 to 67. This is a good move.

Budget 2016 also addresses a concern that some of my constituents have brought forward, which is additional support for senior couples living apart. Many times senior couples have to live apart for reasons beyond their control, including long-term health care, which results in higher costs of living and an increased risk of living in poverty. The current system provides recipients with guaranteed income supplement benefits based on their individual incomes. However, budget 2016 would extend this treatment so that couples also receive allowance benefits.

Budget 2016 puts people first and delivers the help that Canadians need now, not a decade from now. It is an essential step to restoring prosperity to the middle class. When we have an economy that works for the middle class, we have a country that works for everyone.

Budget 2016 reflects a new approach for the government, one that offers immediate help to those who need it most and sets the course for growth for all Canadians. With the implementation of budget 2016, the Government of Canada is investing for the years and decades to come. We are investing for our seniors, our veterans, our children, and grandchildren, so that we all may enjoy a more prosperous and hopeful Canada.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 1, May 9th, 2016]

Madam Speaker, I rise in the House today in support of Bill C-15, an act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 22, 2016 and other measures.

The much-needed budget 2016 is an essential step to growing the middle class and revitalizing the Canadian economy. Budget 2016 has received positive responses from my constituents.

I have received some questions, and I will address these to begin.

The first measure I will be speaking to is the elimination of the children's arts tax credit and child fitness tax credit. These tax credits only benefit families who can afford to enrol their children in arts and fitness programs. It is that simple. This is not the case for many Canadians, including many of those in my constituency. When families do not have money, the tax credit does not matter. We are committed to taking an approach that will help working families. The cost of raising a family was the top issue during the campaign, and it continues to be the top priority in my riding. The bill offers true help to nine out of 10 families.

I will now speak to some of the positive elements of the bill that resonate with my constituents. The Canada child benefit is one of those key positive pieces of the budget. It is a new measure that will begin in July 2016 and will provide simpler, tax-free monthly financial benefits to eligible families. The Canada child benefit will help those who cannot afford to put their children in extracurricular programs. It will give them the option of enrolling the children in programs that would otherwise be financially out of reach. Families who could not enrol their children in arts and fitness programs will now have that chance.

Our government's measures for families with children, combined with the middle-class tax cut, will provide these families with additional net after-tax benefits of approximately $14 billion during the 2015-16 to 2020-21 period. The Canada child benefit will replace existing federal child benefits to provide Canadian families with the additional help that is required with the high cost of raising children. The Canada child benefit will provide a maximum benefit of up to $6,400 per child under the age of six, and up to $5,400 per child aged six through 17, for families who need it the most.

High-income earners will have their assistance reduced, even eliminated. This is good public policy. Approximately nine out of 10 families will receive more under the Canada child benefit than under the current system of child benefits. Ultimately, about 3.5 million families will benefit from this new Canada child benefit, with an average increase of approximately $2,300 annually.

As stated by Rob Carrick of The Globe and Mail, “The new Canada Child Benefit is a solid win over existing programs in both dollar terms and ease of use. The money is tax-free, so it won’t have to be accounted for when completing your income tax return every year.” The is good news.

In addition, the Canada child benefit will help raise nearly 300,000 children out of poverty by 2017. However, it does not end there. Budget 2016 will continue to support poverty reduction in future years. As stated by Anita Khanna, the national coordinator of Campaign 2000, “This is a historic step forward in the battle against child poverty in Canada that is long overdue and long called-for by Campaign 2000 and other groups.”

In line with providing support for the majority of Canadians, budget 2016 proposes to eliminate the income-splitting credit for families. This initiative provides a better solution for helping those who need it the most. We learned during the campaign that many couples did not benefit from this initiative. Our programs are more equitable, and I must note that income splitting for seniors remains.

The second aspect of budget 2016 that I will be speaking to is the introduction of the school supplies tax credit. Educators, often at their own expense, purchase supplies for the benefit of our children, so it is only fair that they are compensated for it. Budget 2016 introduces a 15% refundable income tax credit that will apply on up to $1,000 of eligible supplies. Teachers and early childhood educators will be able to use this credit for the purchase of eligible supplies for use in a school or a regulated child care facility for the purpose of teaching or otherwise enhancing students learning in the classroom or learning environment. This initiative will provide a benefit of about $140 million over a five-year period.

[Criminal Code, May 2nd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I would encourage the committee to listen to the comments that are being put forward, both the questions and concerns, and attempt to have witnesses who can address those, as the special joint committee had done. Then we will be able to weigh through the evidence, as we are about evidence-based policy, and see how the recommendations can be made to perhaps strengthen Bill C-14.

[Criminal Code, May 2nd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I believe very much that we have a good piece of legislation. As I said in my comments, it is a starting piece for a very difficult subject.

Our government has been very clear that we have legislation that has been put forward. We are in the consultation stage right now. We are having this debate. I believe that if compelling arguments are brought forward, they will at least be considered as the final legislation comes forward. I will be watching, along with my constituents, on what the final bill looks like.

[Criminal Code, May 2nd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, as was stated by one of my colleagues earlier, the comment is that the provinces and territories will end up dealing with this issue of conscientious objection. The colleges will need to deal with referral. I have spoken to people within my home province of British Columbia, and the sense is that the provincial and territorial jurisdictions will need to be involved, and that is the appropriate place to address conscientious objection within this topic of medical assistance in dying.

[Criminal Code, May 2nd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today in support of Bill C-14, an act to amend the Criminal Code and to make related amendments to other acts, also known as medical assistance in dying. In January, I was appointed to the Special Joint Committee on Physician-Assisted Dying and I was honoured for the opportunity to be part of this important discussion in Canadian society.

Over the span of a couple of months, my fellow committee members and I spent a lot of time working to understand the complex issue of medical assistance in dying. We discussed, we debated, and we even disagreed on a few issues, but in the end we drafted a report that I thought was the best possible solution for this complex social and legal issue.

Drafting any legislation can be difficult, but it becomes especially difficult when its title includes death or dying. It is a topic that most of us are sensitive toward and many have difficulty confronting.

Within the special joint committee we dealt head-on with a number of difficult issues and were immersed in them for six weeks. We reviewed reports by the provincial and territorial expert advisory panel on physician-assisted dying. We heard from health care regulatory bodies throughout Canada and the federal external panel on options for a legislative response to Carter v. Canada, to name a few.

We had the challenging task of grappling with the major issues touched on by Bill C-14, which include the availability of medical assistance in dying for mature minors or for patients with mental illness, advance consent, conscientious objection, and inevitably ensuring that adequate safeguards were in place to protect the vulnerable.

On February 25, the special joint committee reported back to Parliament where the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Health took the report into consideration and began drafting Bill C-14, which is what I am here to discuss today.

Bill C-14 reflects a number of recommendations made by the special joint committee and these include six main points: allowing both euthanasia and assisted suicide; making it available to permanent residents of Canada, so as not to encourage what some have coined as “suicide or death tourism”; requiring a written request for medical assistance in dying; requiring two witnesses during the time of request; requiring confirmation from two doctors or nurse practitioners that the person making the request meets all of the criteria for medical assistance in dying; and requiring a mandatory statutory review.

The key message I have taken from this very difficult discussion that I was part of and that Canadians are now joining, is that this has to be a patient-centred discussion. I encourage all parliamentarians to set aside personal values and beliefs and focus on what is in the best interests of patients. Medical assistance in dying is, and should only be, about the patient.

Upon reflection on our committee work, I now realize that the committee managed to develop a higher level of comfort with this difficult topic than is held by most Canadians at this point in the public discourse on medical assistance in dying. I am glad to see that the government took the overarching perspective of Canadians into consideration and is willing to use this legislation as a stepping stone for further studies and future revisitation.

In the past few months I have hosted and co-hosted medical assistance in dying town halls. I have spoken directly to my constituents. I have listened to the concerns of my constituents and of many Canadians around the country, and just last week, there was a demonstration for Bill C-14 held at my constituency office. I have heard the positive, the negative, the concerns, and the support, and although I fully support this legislation, I believe there are a few voids that have yet to be filled.

First, during the demonstration last week, important criteria, or better yet lack of criteria, of the bill were brought into question. How does one maintain safeguards when dealing with non-medical personnel? Bill C-14 ensures protections are met for non-medical personnel who participate in medical assistance in dying, including those who aid a person at that person's explicit request to self-administer a substance prescribed as part of the provision of medical assistance in dying, by amending section 241 of the Criminal Code, and introducing proposed section 227 to allow medical assistance in dying if the appropriate conditions are met.

However, what is being done to ensure that non-medical personnel are in fact following the guidelines required by medical assistance in dying? For instance, right before the time of administering the lethal prescription, a patient must be asked whether they would like to continue with medical assistance in dying, but how do we know that these independent individuals are in fact asking this question, among others? How do we know that the individual will not take advantage of the situation or the vulnerable position that the patient is in? These are questions my constituents would like to see addressed.

Second, I recently spoke to someone who was heavily involved in the Carter v. Canada case, who was wondering whether Kay Carter herself would have qualified for medical assistance in dying given the legislation being discussed today. I have read articles stating that she would have been, because she met the criteria for eligibility. However, would health care practitioners consistently agree that Kay Carter would indeed have qualified under this legislation?

The part that I am finding difficult to grasp, for Kay Carter and many others, is the ambiguity of the criterion for imminent death. How do we know that individuals would not be turned away from the service of medical assistance in dying because of the vague nature of this criterion? Who would be responsible for deciding the criteria for imminent death? Will there be inconsistencies in the definition of imminent death? How will we, as a society, address these?

Last, the hard timeline between the date of request and the day on which medical assistance in dying would be provided was yet another point of concern. Many constituents have expressed concerns that this may lead to the hastening of death because the timeline is simply too short. The special joint committee had recommended a flexible waiting period, which would depend on the nature of the illness as opposed to just an imminent death. It was suggested that imminence and competence not be the only factors in determining the timeline, but much rather the rapidity of progression and nature of the patient's medical condition be used when determining the reflection period.

These are a few pieces of the proposed legislation that my constituents and I feel need to be clarified and tightened before the final legislation is created for June 6.

However, I also want to acknowledge that the legislation has done a great job in addressing a number of concerns that have been conveyed by my constituents and many others. For instance, the first misconception I would like to clear up is that Bill C-14 does not address the conscientious objections of medical personnel. It does. There is nothing in the proposed legislation that would compel a health care provider to provide medical assistance in dying or refer a patient to another medical practitioner. Balancing the rights of medical providers and those of patients is generally a matter of provincial and territorial responsibility, and we need to respect that. However, that being said, the federal government has committed to work with the provinces and territories to support access to medical assistance in dying while respecting the personal convictions of health care providers.

Bill C-14 also recognizes the autonomy of persons who have a grievous and irremediable medical condition that causes them enduring and intolerable suffering and who wish to seek medical assistance in dying, while recognizing the importance of protecting the vulnerable and ensuring adequate safeguards are in place.

Over the past four months, I have encountered a wide variety of perspectives about this complex and difficult issue. Some have been extremely restrictive, while others have been extremely permissive. Some believe the legislation would go too far, while others believe it would not go far enough.

I believe Bill C-14 is an important first step in Canada. It is cautious, even conservative legislation, but it will provide a necessary first response to the Carter decision along with a commitment to continue studying the effects and revisiting important issues of medical assistance in dying in the future.

Ultimately, when it comes to Bill C-14, I would like to see the voids found within the legislation addressed prior to June 6, and I intend to support Bill C-14. I encourage my colleagues on both sides of the House to support the rights of Canadians, and to put patients first by supporting this bill.

[Volunteerism, May 2nd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I recently met two amazing volunteers in Langley City.

The first is Pauline Knight, who turned 100 in February. Pauline still volunteers for the Langley Senior Resources Society in Langley City, as she has done for 24 years.

The second volunteer is Rob Ross. Children have always been important to Mr. Ross. As a retired teacher and principal, along with being a father to his own children, Mr. Ross became a volunteer with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Langley 40 years ago. Since that time he has made the difference in the lives of an astounding 14 “littles”, many of whom still play an important part in Rob's life.

Speaking of volunteers, Mr. Speaker, I invite you, my colleagues, and all Canadians to enjoy our community Cloverdale style. The 70th annual Cloverdale Rodeo, the second-largest community rodeo in Canada, and 128th Country Fair, run from May 20 to 23. With all the components of a great community celebration supported by countless volunteers, there will be activities for all ages and interests.