Attempts to have all emergency personnel treated equally haven’t been dashed.
Bob Spiers, Vernon councillor, has been told by the federal government that his petition to have auxiliary police officers receive a tax benefit will be reviewed as part of federal tax expenditures.
“I was hoping they would say they would put it into their fiscal update in the fall,” he said.
“I will look at the bright side of things. They haven’t rejected it and will hopefully consider it in their (2017) budget talks.”
The petition applies to all RCMP, provincial and municipal auxiliary police officers.
A tax credit for volunteer firefighters has been in place since 2011 and since 2014 for volunteer search and rescue members.
Under House of Commons rules, a public petition attracting more than 500 signatures can be presented to MPs for consideration.
In May, North Okanagan-Shuswap MP Mel Arnold presented Spiers’ petition to his colleagues.
Spiers isn’t speculating on how the Liberal government will ultimately handle the request for an auxiliary police tax credit.
“Hopefully the people looking at it will seriously consider it,” he said.
“It was well supported by our MP and a lot of other people.”
