Peter Stoffer

[Heritage Lighthouses Protection Act, May 8th, 2006]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-268, An Act to protect heritage lighthouses.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to speak to a bill that other members of Parliament from other parties have spoken to over the previous years, as well as Senator Carney in the Senate.

Our lighthouses on the west coast and in the far north are beacons of light and hope and we should not allow that very important part of Canada's heritage to fall apart.

We believe that working through community groups and communities throughout the country we can preserve and protect these lighthouses for many generations to come. They tell the story of ancient mariners and the keepers and their families who held the light when the fog and weather was bad.

I know the bill will have great support, not only through our offices but scattered throughout the House and throughout the country. We hope for a speedy passage of this very important legislation.

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

[Income Tax Act, May 4th, 2006]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-256, An Act to amend the Income Tax Act (physical activity and amateur sport fees).

Mr. Speaker, this is a bill I first introduced in 1999 and will continue to do so.

The bill would give true tax relief for all those involved in sports and physical activity. Basically it says that if a person or any member of his or her family is a member of a gym, or if the kids are part of sports groups, the entire fee, for example, if it were $400 or $500, should be claimed as a tax deduction, similar to that of a charitable donation, without any limits.

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

[Income Tax Act, May 4th, 2006]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-255, An Act to amend the Income Tax Act (herbal remedies).

Mr. Speaker, as we know, many people are allergic to sulpha-based drugs or are unable to take them for medicinal purposes. The bill asks that anyone prescribed a herbal alternative by a licensed physician be allowed to claim that as a medical expense.

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

[Norad, May 3rd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, would the minister clarify some issues? I am not sure that everyone in this chamber or those listening understand the full, intricate details of what the Norad mission is and what the future of it will mean.

I have a definition for the minister to respond to if it is possible or, if not, he can get back to us later. It says:

--our two governments agree that Norad''s aerospace warning mission for North America also shall include aerospace warning, as defined in Norad's Terms of Reference, in support of the designated commands responsible for missile defence of North America.

The minister knows the House voted in the last Parliament that Canada would not be part of missile defence. I wonder if this does not in any way preclude Canada's possibility or even acceptance that we may in some way be part of the U.S. missile defence shield.

[The Budget, May 3rd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the big petroleum companies receive tax breaks but the fact is that families with children with autism receive no help at all.

Why should families with children with serious disabilities, especially those with autism, feel any good about the budget and yet petroleum companies, which are making record profits under the current tax regime, stand to make even more money?

[The Budget, May 3rd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I have very great respect for the hon. member from the Bloc Québécois who just spoke. He is one of the more eloquent speakers in the House of Commons. However, in some of his debate, he was factually incorrect.

He said that he applauded the Conservative government for putting $1 billion into post-secondary education but he knows, as a long-serving member of this House, that it was his party that voted against Bill C-48 in the last Parliament. Bill C-48 contained $1.5 billion of additional money for post-secondary education to help students. What the Conservatives have done is they have taken the $1 billion out of the $1.5 billion and put it into university infrastructure. This is why we have so many students, not only in Quebec but across the country, extremely disappointed.

He should know that at the end of this year student debt will rise. Poverty in this country and international poverty will rise. Pollution will rise.

There is no question that the budget does contain some good things, every budget has its good and bad, but I am questioning how someone, who stood in this House in the last Parliament and voted against the budget that helped students, is now applauding a Conservative government that said very clearly that this is helping students.

I would be honoured to have his comments.

[Canadian Safe Drinking Water Act, May 3rd, 2006]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-250, An Act to ensure safe drinking water throughout Canada.

Mr. Speaker, it is always surprising that although Canada has the largest freshwater supplies in the world, we are very concerned that hundreds of our communities have to boil their water to have safe drinking water on a regular basis.

I honestly believe that from coast to coast to coast and inland, everybody in Canada should have the right to safe accessible water. Nobody should have to boil their water. Nobody should have to spend hundreds of millions of dollars worrying about those concerns.

We all know what happened in Walkerton and Kashechewan. That should not happen to any Canadian. That is why I am proud, along with my colleague from Victoria, to introduce this bill to ensure safe drinking water for every Canadian.

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

[Canadian Bill of Rights, May 1st, 2006]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-242, An Act to amend the Canadian Bill of Rights (right to housing).

Mr. Speaker, we do not have to look further than our hon. colleague from Timmins—James Bay when he talked about the housing concerns on Kashechewan. One of the fundamental aspects of human dignity is to have proper shelter that is affordable.

The NDP believes that the Canadian Bill of Rights should be changed to include a right to proper shelter with unreasonable barriers and ensure that it is affordable, so that all Canadians can raise their families in proper, safe and decent housing.

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

[Income Tax Act, May 1st, 2006]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-241, An Act to amend the Income Tax Act (deductibility of expense of tools provided as a requirement of employment).

Mr. Speaker, this is a copy of a bill my great colleague from Winnipeg Centre has also introduced. It is also great that this bill is introduced on May Day.

If people working for Canadian Tire had to bring their own tools to work, those tools would not tax deductible. If Canadian Tire supplied those tools for the individuals, they would be tax deductible. That is wrong.

We believe the tax deductibility should work both ways. If a person is a mechanic or travels across the country and brings his or her tools along, it should be no different than a businessman who brings his laptop. It is a tax deductibility that should be encouraged, so our workers in this country can be treated fairly by the income tax system.

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

[Employment Insurance Act, May 1st, 2006]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-240, An Act to amend the Employment Insurance Act and the Canada Labour Code (compassionate care benefits for caregivers).

Mr. Speaker, back in 1998 I introduced a bill called compassionate care leave which basically gave the same exact benefits for those who are looking after people under palliative or severe rehabilitative care as others have when they are on maternity leave.

For example, we have maternity benefits for up to a year, but we have no eternity benefits, which is what I would like to call it. I believe that people who look after people under palliative or severe rehabilitative care should be able to leave their place of employment and collect employment insurance for a period of time, so that they indeed could care for their dying loved ones or those who are under severe rehabilitative care. In a country such as Canada, it is the least we can do.

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