MPS press pet causes against long odds

Liberal wants tax deduction for travel inside Canada

Canada’s backbench MPs intend to push a range of personal causes when Parliament resumes Monday.

Liberal MP Massimo Pacetti, for example, would like to see more Canadians travel inside their own country. “When you look at prices to travel, it’s just astronomical to travel from one end of Canada to the other,” the Montreal-area MP said. “Even in the summer, people will head off to the Carolinas. Not too many people are aware that we have our own beautiful beaches out east.”

So Pacetti’s private member’s bill, soon to face second reading in the Commons, seeks to offer income-tax deductions on bus fares, train tickets and flights to destinations inside Canada. The deductions would only apply when a person crosses three provincial boundaries.

Conservative MP Peter Braid has a bill seeking to extend the tax deadline for charitable donations from Dec. 31 until the end of February.

NDP MP Randall Garrison says even though his bill was “filibustered by some Conservatives” in committee in December, he’s confident it has a good chance of passing. His bill would add gender identity to the Canadian Human Rights Act and Criminal Code.

Quebec NDP MP Sana Hassainia’s bill seeking to double parental leave for parents of multiples goes for second reading in February.

And Laval NDP MP Jose Nunez-Melo’s bill, also up for second reading, would place obligations on air carriers to compensate their passengers for cancelled or delayed flights, when boarding is denied, or when an airplane has been grounded for more than an hour at the airport.

Most private member’s bills fail — only six out of 268 such bills from the 41st session of Parliament have received Royal Assent, for instance.