Bills and Petitions from the 44th Parliament

This enactment amends the Income Tax Act to allow tradespersons and indentured apprentices to deduct from their income amounts expended for travelling where they were employed in a construction activity at a job site that is located at least 80 km away from their ordinary place of residence.

Read full bill details here.

This enactment amends the National Housing Strategy Act to require that, in order to reflect more closely the international law principle that the key elements of the right to adequate housing are affordability and security of tenure, the housing policy of the Government of Canada and the National Housing Strategy developed under that Act address the erosion of the supply of affordable housing and the impact on the housing market of investments in residential property by institutional investors.

Read full bill details here.

This enactment amends the Criminal Code to create an offence of wilfully promoting hatred against Indigenous peoples by condoning, denying, downplaying or justifying the Indian residential school system in Canada through statements communicated other than in private conversation.

Read full bill details here.

SUMMARY

This enactment provides for the development of a national framework on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Read full bill details here.

This enactment, among other things, requires businesses to establish processes to prevent, address and remedy adverse impacts on human rights that occur in relation to their business activities conducted abroad.

Read full bill details here.

This enactment enacts the Responsible Business Conduct Abroad Act, which establishes the Office of the Commissioner for Responsible Business Conduct Abroad. The enactment authorizes the Commissioner to monitor and investigate the business activities of certain Canadian entities operating abroad for the purpose of reporting on the entities’ compliance with international human rights law.

Read full bill details here.

This enactment requires the Minister of Finance to develop a national framework to provide all persons over the age of 17 in Canada with access to a guaranteed livable basic income. It also provides for reporting requirements with respect to the framework.

Read full bill details here.

Whereas:

• Housing is a fundamental human right that is recognized under international human rights law;
• Everyone should be able to afford a safe, dignified place to call home, but the housing crisis has made housing unaffordable for many;
• The number of people living unsheltered has increased across the country, and tripled in Waterloo Region since 2018;
• Large corporate investors and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) are rapidly buying up affordable housing units and increasing rents to maximize their profits; and
• Decades of underinvestment by all levels of government have left a shortage of affordable rental housing in Waterloo Region and across the country.

We, the undersigned citizens and residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to:

• Increase long-term federal funding to create more non-profit and co-op housing;
• Fight the financialization of housing by regulating REITs and limiting the influence of large corporate investors in the housing market;
• Remove the corporate tax exemption for REITs to ensure they pay their fair share of taxes, using the revenue to fund affordable housing;
• Protect tenant rights by creating national rent control standards; and
• Make home ownership more attainable through a Home Buyer's Bill of Rights, ending blind bidding and giving buyers the right to a home inspection.

Read the full petition details here.

Whereas:

• The government of Ontario has proposed Highway 413, a new 52-kilometer mega-highway which would pave over 2,400 acres of land including the protected Greenbelt, farms, forests, wetlands, and the traditional Indigenous lands of the Mississauga, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Chippewa, and Six Nations;
• Highway 413 would increase greenhouse gas emissions by over 17 million tonnes by 2050, resulting in $1.4 billion in damages from said emissions;
• Highway 413 would cost taxpayers $6 billion for a project that would do little to reduce traffic congestion and is redundant given its proximity to Highway 407;
• Construction of Highway 413 would further endanger at least 29 federally-listed species at risk;
• In the midst of the climate crisis, the Highway 413 project would only increase transportation emissions for a province that is already not on track to meet its targets for emissions reduction;
• Ontario is attempting to undermine the provincial environmental impact assessment by allowing construction to begin before the assessment is completed and attempting to make highways less than 75 kilometers exempt from environmental assessments;
• The majority of municipalities that would be affected by Highway 413 are opposed to the project and have passed motions requesting a federal environmental impact assessment; and
• The impacts of the proposed highway fall under federal jurisdiction, such as, greenhouse gas emissions, federally-listed species at risk, and treaty rights.

We, the undersigned residents of the province of Ontario, call upon the Minister of Environment and Climate Change to commence a complete and thorough federal environmental impact assessment to identify, predict and evaluate the environmental effects of the Highway 413 project and conduct public hearings prior to the start of its construction.

Read full petition details here.

Whereas:

• Over 50,000 people in Syria and Türkiye were killed and 100,000 injured by devastating earthquakes;
• Syria was already ravaged by 12 years of war;
• UN Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of the unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights, Alena Douhan, condemned sanctions on Syria as "suffocating" in 2022 and called for their "immediate lifting". She stated: "No reference to good objectives of unilateral sanctions justifies the violation of fundamental human rights. The international community has an obligation of solidarity and assistance to the Syrian people";
• The Syrian Arab Red Crescent (2023), which has been entrusted by the Government of Canada to distribute its aid in Syria, also "appeal[ed] for the lifting of the economic embargo";
• The United States has suspended some of its sanctions on Syria, in response to the earthquake. "However, [UN experts] wish to recall that such systems of humanitarian carve-outs may not be sufficient to address the long term negative effects of sanctions, as well as business over-compliance with sanctions and financial de-risking" (UN, 2023); and
• Clare Daly (2023), Member of the European Parliament, cautions "thousands more may die" if the embargo against Syria does not end.

We, the undersigned, citizens and residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to immediately end sanctions against Syria, urge other sanctioning states to follow suit, and amplify its aid and rescue efforts to all in the region.

Read full petition details here.

WHEREAS Canada must address the climate emergency.

We, the undersigned, citizens and residents of Canada, call on the Prime Minister and the Government of Canada to enact just transition legislation that:

• Reduces emissions by at least 60% below 2005 levels, and assists the Global South in cutting emissions by 80%, by 2030;
• Winds down the fossil fuel industry and related infrastructure, ends fossil fuel subsidies, and transitions to a decarbonized economy;
• Creates new public economic institutions and expands public ownership of services and utilities across the economy to implement the transition;
• Creates good green jobs and drives inclusive workforce development, led by and including affected workers and communities, and ensures decent, low-carbon work for all workers;
• Protects and strengthens human rights and worker rights, respects Indigenous rights, sovereignty, and knowledge by including them in creating and implementing this legislation, ensures migrant justice, and emphasizes support for historically marginalized communities;
• Expands the social safety net through new income supports, decarbonized public housing, and operational funding for affordable and accessible public transit countrywide; and
• Pays for the transition by increasing taxes on the wealthiest and corporations and financing through a public national bank.

Read full petition details here.

Whereas:

• The government of Ontario has proposed Highway 413, a new 52-kilometer mega-highway which would pave over 2,400 acres of land including the protected Greenbelt, farms, forests, wetlands, and the traditional Indigenous lands of the Mississauga, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Chippewa, and Six Nations;
• Highway 413 would increase greenhouse gas emissions by over 17 million tonnes by 2050, resulting in $1.4 billion in damages from said emissions;
• Highway 413 would cost taxpayers $6 billion for a project that would do little to reduce traffic congestion and is redundant given its proximity to Highway 407;
• Construction of Highway 413 would further endanger at least 29 federally-listed species at risk;
• In the midst of the climate crisis, the Highway 413 project would only increase transportation emissions for a province that is already not on track to meet its targets for emissions reduction;
• Ontario is attempting to undermine the provincial environmental impact assessment by allowing construction to begin before the assessment is completed and attempting to make highways less than 75 kilometers exempt from environmental assessments;
• The majority of municipalities that would be affected by Highway 413 are opposed to the project and have passed motions requesting a federal environmental impact assessment; and
• The impacts of the proposed highway fall under federal jurisdiction, such as, greenhouse gas emissions, federally-listed species at risk, and treaty rights.

We, the undersigned residents of the province of Ontario, call upon the Minister of Environment and Climate Change to commence a complete and thorough federal environmental impact assessment to identify, predict and evaluate the environmental effects of the Highway 413 project and conduct public hearings prior to the start of its construction.

Read full petition details here.