Chris Lewis introduces Private Member's Bill

Chris Lewis, Conservative Member of Parliament for Essex, introduced legislation in the House of Commons to amend the Income Tax Act on February 8th, 2022. In the same manner as self-employed Canadians, this bill will allow tradespersons to claim travel expenses for work at least 120 kilometres from their residence. These expenses include travel, accommodation, and meals.

   

“It is an honour to rise in the House of Commons to introduce my bill, An Act to amend the Income Tax Act (deduction of travel expenses for tradespersons),” said Lewis. “By 2025, Ontario alone will need an additional 350,000 tradespeople to fill the current need. I look forward to working with parties to pass this important legislation and give the necessary support to our trades across the country when they travel for work.”

As often is the case, tradespersons can be expected to travel long distances from one job to the next far from home. With inflation at a 30 year high, and during the ongoing cost of living crisis, this bill is a common-sense proposal for hard-working Canadians.

“When it comes down to it, this legislation is just basic fairness for tradespeople,” said Lewis. “I made a commitment to tradespeople in my riding to bring forward this bill if re-elected." Lewis’ bill was seconded by his colleague, Warren Steinley, Conservative MP for Regina-Lewvan.

The bill is expected to come up for debate in the House this spring.

Above: It was good to finally be back to committee business at the beginning of February! Thank you to Brian Kingston, President of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association for being a witness on the International Trade Committee. Your input was extremely important as we take on the topic of Electric Vehicles and Canada-US trade relations!!
                       
Left: Students are very much the future of our nation. I had an enjoyable and constructive conversation with the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA). We discussed many elements of post-secondary students' lives and challenges. Mental health support, student loans and grants, accessibility to education for indigenous peoples and international students' experience here in Canada were some of the main subjects we covered. Thank you to Duncan Walsh and Kordell Wajtaszek for such a helpful meeting.
                           
Right: On the agenda for my meeting with the Dairy Farmers of Ontario was the lack of clarity on the compensation for dairy farmers promised by the Liberal government as a result of the CUSMA deal, the importation of illegal US dairy at the border, and the fact that Canadian Dairy should be part of any national school food program! Thank you to Vicky Morrison, John Wynands, Roger Boerse, Erik Tremblay and Heather MacGregor for a productive meeting on dairy!

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