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House Hansard - 41

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 4, 2022 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 41 - Mar/4/22
Mr. Gord Johns (Courtenay—Alberni, NDP)
Mr. Speaker, it is a privilege to rise and table this petition on behalf of residents of Courtenay, Cumberland, Bowser and Royston in my riding. They are citing that 83% of Canada's total firefighting essential first responders are volunteers. In addition, 8,000 essential search and rescue volunteers respond to thousands of incidents every year. The tax code of Canada currently allows volunteer firefighters and search and rescue volunteers to claim a $3,000 tax credit if 200 hours of volunteer services were completed in a calendar year. This works out to a mere $450 a year. They are calling on the government to increase the tax exemption from $3,000 to $10,000 to help essential firefighters and volunteer search and rescue people across this country. They are calling for the support of Bill C-201. It is timely, because the PBO just released a report this week to cite that this would cost taxpayers in Canada $40 million for 42,000 volunteer firefighters and first responders.
169 words
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