44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 16, 2022 10:00AM
- Jun/16/22 10:15:00 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, single seniors are getting left behind in our current income tax system. I am honoured to present a petition on behalf of Single Seniors for Tax Fairness, and supported by many Canadians, who raise the glaring point that single seniors do not have the same benefits as senior couples. For instance, single seniors often forfeit the age amount tax credit, and many of their savings are declared as income upon death.
Petitioners are calling on the Government of Canada to level the playing field by implementing solutions such as offering a 30% reduction in income tax to single seniors.
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- Jun/16/22 10:16:23 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I have a second petition to present.
The Kawenní:io/Gawęní:yo immersion school plays a vital role in keeping the Haudenosaunee culture and languages alive at Six Nations of the Grand River, situated in my riding. This school does not have its own building and has had to move five times since 1985. It needs a permanent home. Unfortunately, the current situation makes it challenging to accommodate the demand, due to space limitations and health and safety regulations.
Being a strong advocate for this important cause, I am proud to present a petition that was originally signed by more than 1,500 residents, who call on the government to fund this shovel-ready project.
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- Jun/16/22 10:16:31 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am honoured to rise today to present a petition on the climate emergency.
It states:
The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C clearly communicates that the future of humanity is at risk without “rapid and far-reaching” changes...
We are almost exactly three years from the point when this place passed the motion, on June 18, 2019, that we were in a climate emergency.
The petitioners point out that any actions to suggest we understand this is an emergency cannot be detected from the current government response. In fact, the petitioners point out, Canada is on course to significantly overshoot the targets and to miss any chance of holding to 1.5°C. They call on all of us in Parliament and the Government of Canada to prioritize the elimination of fossil fuel emissions and to preserve a healthy environment. They call on us to eliminate single-use plastics and to commit to a rapid elimination of fossil fuels from our economy.
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- Jun/16/22 10:18:22 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the second petition deals with the subject of our electoral system.
Canada's electoral system has been unfair and difficult from its very inception. It is a first-past-the-post system. Under this system, our democracy is under threat.
The petitioners ask us to consider immediately putting in place a proportional representation system so Canadians will have a reason to know they can vote because every vote will count.
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- Jun/16/22 10:18:25 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to rise today to present a petition signed by a number of constituents in my riding of Perth—Wellington, namely from the city of Stratford, on the important issue of the right to repair.
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- Jun/16/22 10:18:41 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am presenting a petition today on behalf of several thousand Canadians who add their voices to the hundreds of thousands of Canadians who have already expressed themselves through various means asking us to take into consideration here in Parliament that there are millions of Canadians who have no access to affordable medication and hundreds of Canadians die each year because they do not have the wherewithal to pay for that medication.
As we know, these petitioners are also saying that a universal public pharmacare system would make a tremendous difference in providing medication, which is prescribed by their doctors, to Canadians right across the country. At the same time, it would save money compared to the existing system, which is full of holes and leaves millions of Canadians out. These petitioners are calling on the Government of Canada to support the Canada pharmacare act, legislation that would create a universal, comprehensive and public pharmacare program for all Canadians, and to follow the recommendations set out by the Hoskins advisory council.
As we know, last year, Canada pharmacare was defeated in the House, but I am pleased to say that, with the confidence and supply agreement, the government is now obliged to present a new Canada pharmacare act next year. We believe, and these petitioners believe, that this is in the best interest of all Canadians.
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- Jun/16/22 10:20:05 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am rising today to present a petition on behalf of my constituents in Dartmouth—Cole Harbour. They are calling on the government to enact just transition legislation that would continue to reduce emissions while creating more green jobs and strengthening workers' rights.
I want to take a moment, publicly, to thank my constituents for their advocacy.
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- Jun/16/22 10:20:28 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition on behalf of Canadians who are concerned about the government's use of values tests on programs and the potential that the charitable status of hospitals, houses of worship, schools, homeless shelters and other charitable organizations may be jeopardized for reasons of conscience.
They are calling upon the House of Commons to protect and preserve the application of charitable status rules on a politically and ideologically neutral basis, without discrimination on the basis of political or religious values and without the imposition of another values test. They are calling on the House of Commons to affirm the rights of all Canadians to freedom of expression.
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- Jun/16/22 10:21:13 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the next petition is returning to the subject of international human rights. This petition is about the situation in Afghanistan. This petition came in prior to the Taliban takeover, at a time when there were significant concerns about human rights challenges facing the Hazara community in Afghanistan, and sadly, the situation has gotten so much worse following the Taliban takeover.
Petitioners note the significant Canadian contribution to Afghanistan in development assistance, as well as men and women in uniform who paid the ultimate price. Therefore, petitioners want to see the government do more to support the Hazara minority, including formally recognize past genocides and designate September 25 as Hazara genocide memorial day.
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- Jun/16/22 10:21:13 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the second petition is about a 2021 commitment in the Liberal election platform to politicize charitable status determinations and to strip charitable status from organizations that take positions on abortion that the Liberals do not agree with. This is similar to the values test the Liberals previously imposed on the Canada summer jobs program, which would deny funding to worthy organizations that would not check a box with respect to agreeing with the government's position on that issue.
Petitioners also note that all Canadians have a right under the charter to freedom of expression without discrimination. They therefore call on the House of Commons to protect and preserve the application of charitable status rules on a politically and ideologically neutral basis without discrimination on the basis of political and religious values or the imposition of a values test and to affirm Canadians' rights to freedom of expression.
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- Jun/16/22 10:21:13 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the next petition that I am tabling highlights ongoing concerns about human rights abuses taking place in Ethiopia. Some of the particular asks are dated, but there continue to be concerns about humanitarian conditions, as well as political violence, in the Tigray region of Ethiopia.
Petitioners want to see the government increase its engagement with the country of Ethiopia to support an end to any violence, support justice and human rights there, and support our consistent engagement within Ethiopia to combat violence. They also want the government to be noting the role of the Eritrean government and engage there as well to promote the advancement of human rights.
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- Jun/16/22 10:21:13 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to table some petitions.
The first petition I want to table is on a very serious human rights issue. It is on the situation in Pakistan, particularly Pakistan's blasphemy law. The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom notes that the blasphemy law has “contributed to egregious human rights abuses and fostered an overall atmosphere of intolerance for religious minorities that often leads to violence and discrimination.”
Petitioners particularly highlight the case of Notan Lal, the owner and principal of a private school in Ghotki, Pakistan, who was detained and charged under the blasphemy law after a student made a false accusation. Petitioners note that a very high percentage of accusations of blasphemy target minorities, such as Ahmadiyya Muslims, Hindus and Christians, and that the arrest of Notan Lal was followed by riots and a violent attack on the school, as well as on a local Hindu temple.
Petitioners also note the abduction and forced marriage of women and girls from minority communities, in particular Hindu girls from the Sindh region of Pakistan, as being an element of the human rights abuses that we are seeing.
Petitioners therefore call upon the government of Pakistan to combat the abduction and forced marriage of women and girls from minority communities, to condemn the imprisonment of Notan Lal and to condemn Pakistan's blasphemy law.
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- Jun/16/22 10:21:13 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the next petition that I am tabling speaks to the carbon tax, particularly the cost that the carbon tax imposes on farmers and ranchers. This is particularly evident in light of increasing fuel prices. The cost is imposing very significantly on farmers.
There are a number of asks that are highlighted in this petition, such as immediately exempting all direct and indirect input costs incurred by farmers as a result of the carbon tax and also immediately cancelling the implementation of the clean fuel standard, which will have a devastating impact on the Canadian economy, including the agricultural sector.
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- Jun/16/22 10:30:01 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the next petition I am tabling highlights the human rights abuses targeting Uighurs and calls for a stronger response from Parliament and government. The petitioners note a past Associated Press article reporting information on forced sterilization and abortion, coordinated campaigns of birth suppression, and mounting evidence that Uighurs are being subjected to political and anti-religious indoctrination, arbitrary detention, separation of children from families, invasive surveillance, destruction of cultural sites, forced labour and even forced organ harvesting.
It is estimated that up to three million Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in China have been detained in what are clearly concentration camps. This evidence is in alignment with the criteria in the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide for the international definition of “genocide”.
The petitioners want to see Canada step up on this and formally recognize that Uighurs in China have been and are being subjected to genocide and to use the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act, the Magnitsky act, to sanction those who are responsible for the heinous crimes being committed against the Uighur people.
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- Jun/16/22 10:30:01 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the next petition I am tabling is in support of a private member's bill on organ harvesting and trafficking. It is a bill that has passed in the Senate and is currently before the foreign affairs committee. The bill would make it a criminal offence for a person to go abroad and receive an organ taken without the consent of the person who the organ is coming from. The petitioners want to see the bill passed. They note that a form of this bill has passed in the Senate unanimously three times and has passed in the House unanimously in the same form before. They hope this will be the Parliament that finally gets it done.
In closing, the petitioners also note that the bill amends the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to create a mechanism whereby people could be deemed inadmissible to Canada if they were involved in the heinous practice of forced organ harvesting and trafficking. I commend that to the consideration of colleagues.
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