Bill aiming to help business go green

Fri 23 Jul 2010

Cowichan Valley Citizen
Fri Jul 23 2010

Jean Crowder doesn't want the workforce to get "dinged" for making environmentally conscious decisions.
The Nanaimo-Cowichan MP supports Bill C-466, a proposed change to the Income Tax Act, aimed at facilitating green commuter choices for Canadians by making employer-provided benefits for transit, carpooling and bicycle commuting tax-free at the federal level.

She said currently if an employer offers incentives or benefits to their staff, the employee has to claim it on their federal income tax forms.

"What we're asking is that you actually don't ding the employee for making a green choice," Crowder said Thursday.

The MP wants the local governments in her riding to jump on board and send a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper backing Crowder's efforts.

Victoria New Democrat MP Denise Savoie introduced Bill C-466 as a private member's bill.
"As this bill illustrates, government can help make better commuter choices easier for Canadians," Savoie told the House of Commons in introduction of the bill in late 2009.

"It would help us to meet our eventual commitments to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions."
Private member's bills don't often get made law but Crowder hopes this simple change will make a world of difference on a number of levels.

In a letter Crowder wrote to the Cowichan Valley Regional District, she said that in addition to increasing transit demand, it would assist long-term institutional planning for transit authorities by facilitating cost-effective bulk transit purchases by employers.

"There's a whole bunch of things around this," she said. "You want to have public transit readily available for all ages, no matter who you are and then you have to take into account the individual circumstances locally."

Given the aging population in the Cowichan Valley and the more general desire for improved transit links, CVRD directors voted to write a letter to Harper in support of Bill C-466.
Crowder was pleased with the CVRD's move.

"It's not something that's on the top of everybody's radar," she admitted. "It's just another measure that I think municipalities and regional districts can take a look at."