Petition for cycling tax credit
An Ontario man needs help getting signatures for a petition asking Parliament to consider tax credits for cyclists, similar to the credits that have been offered to public transit users. If successful, Chris Tomasini believes that the credits could lead to an increase in the number of cycling commuters, which would then benefit all Canadians in the form of cleaner air, lower health care costs, and a decrease in carbon dioxide emissions.
The petition comes at the perfect time. Two recent polls show that a majority of Canadians believe the federal government is doing a poor job at reducing air pollution and fighting climate change. Prime Minister Harper just replaced his environment minister following criticism of Canada’s policies by other countries and the United Nations at the recent UN Climate Change Conference in Nairobi. The Conservatives may now be more open to new environmental initiatives.
Tomasini originally posted the petition online at the web site gopetition.com, where it has so far received 2,800 signatures. He and others began asking Members of Parliament to present the petition to the House of Commons. Only New Democratic Party MP Olivia Chow agreed to their request. However, it was then that Tomasini learned that there are specific rules governing petitions presented to the House. Among these is that signatures must be handwritten, which meant that an online petition would not be acceptable.
He then started trying to find retail shops that would let him post the petition for their customers to sign. So far, with the help of others, it can only be found in a few Mountain Equipment Co-op stores, including the store in Vancouver. Tomasini doesn’t have the time to look for more retailers. Another problem is that he needs a volunteer to translate it correctly into French.
In an e-mail exchange with MOMENTUM, Tomasini was asked about his motivation for creating the petition.
“I’m an academic librarian, and part of my job involves ordering and processing government documents. I came across an annual report from the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development regarding petitions which had been put to parliament regarding the environment, and that got me thinking about doing a petition that would ask for a tax credit for cyclists similar to the one that public transit users received this past summer.
“The fact is that everyone gives passing mention to cycling as something the general public can do to help save the environment, but that no level of government has ever come out to actually promote cycling had me kind of annoyed, so I thought it’d be nice to force the federal government’s hand and ask them to set an example regarding promoting cycling. Therefore all the things I asked for had to be federal (i.e. tax and finance department stuff) responsibilities, rather than municipal style bike lane requests.
“The tax credit idea came from the tax credit given to public transit users. A removal of GST from bikes is an old nugget I added in. The tax rebates for businesses that set up lockers and showers has been kicked around before, and could be quite effective because lack of a place to clean up is a big reason people don’t cycle to work. The British ‘Bike to Work” plan was something I came across that I thought could work here.
“The various bike groups (Take the Tooker, Toronto bike network, the cycling hub, the
people out in Winnipeg - I forget their name at the moment… Bike to the Future?… the Vancouver cycling people) are getting more impatient with knowing that cycling works, that it makes heavy duty commuting possible, that it is a serious climate change solution, but that no one really gets on the bandwagon and promotes cycling to Canadians. We think it’s well past time that bikes were promoted ahead of the automobile, and hopefully this petition will be a step towards that.”
Those who want to support the initiative can download a copy of the petition and mail a signed copy to Tomasini, or collect signatures. It will also help to mail a letter to your Member of Parliament asking them to support the initiative. No postage is required to send mail to Members of Parliament. Signing the online petition can still show moral support, even though it won’t be admissible in Parliament.
To read the full text of the petition and supporting literature and for Tomasini’s contact information, visit his blog:www.tucorides.blogspot.com.
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