Bill C-86 (Historical)

Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 2

A second Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on February 27, 2018 and other measures

Part 1 implements certain income tax and related measures by
(a) introducing rules intended to provide greater certainty with respect to various tax consequences arising from certain foreign divisive reorganizations;
(b) ensuring that the existing cross-border anti-surplus stripping rule cannot be circumvented through transactions involving the use of partnerships or trusts;
(c) introducing rules to prevent misuse of the foreign accrual property income regime through the use of tracking interests involving foreign affiliates;
(d) ensuring consistency between the trading or dealing in indebtedness rules and the investment business rules within the foreign accrual property income regime;
(e) ensuring that the at-risk rules apply appropriately at each level of a tiered partnership structure;
(f) providing that the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness can determine international operational missions for the purpose of the deduction available for income earned by members of the Canadian Forces or police officers on such missions;
(g) amending the synthetic equity arrangement rules and securities lending arrangement rules to prevent the artificial generation of losses through the use of equity-based financial instruments;
(h) ensuring that social assistance payments under certain programs do not preclude individuals from receiving the Canada Child Benefit;
(i) ensuring that an individual who is eligible to receive the Canada Workers Benefit can receive the benefit without having to claim it;
(j) introducing a refundable tax credit for the purposes of the climate action incentive;
(k) providing allocation rules for losses applied against Part IV taxes;
(l) preventing the creation of artificial losses on shares held as mark-to-market property by financial institutions;
(m) revising the rules relating to the non-partisan political activities of charities;
(n) ensuring that a taxpayer is subject to a three-year extended reassessment period in respect of any income, loss or other amount arising in connection with a foreign affiliate of the taxpayer;
(o) providing the Canada Revenue Agency with an extended reassessment period of an additional three years, to the extent that the reassessment relates to the adjustment of a loss carryback for transactions involving a taxpayer and non-resident non-arm’s length persons;
(p) extending the reassessment period of a taxpayer by the period of time during which a requirement for information or compliance order is contested;
(q) requiring that information returns in respect of a taxpayer’s foreign affiliates be filed within 10 months after the end of the taxpayer’s taxation year;
(r) enabling the disclosure of taxpayer and other confidential tax information to Canada’s bilateral mutual legal assistance treaty partners for the purposes of non-tax criminal investigations and prosecutions of certain serious crimes; and
(s) providing a deduction for employee contributions to the enhanced portion of the Quebec Pension Plan.
Part 1 also amends the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Act to, among other things, define the term “agreement” as applying, among other things, to tax information exchange agreements and tax treaties to which Canada is a party, and provide for orders to produce financial information for the purposes of investigation and prosecution of certain offences set out in subsection 462.‍48(1.‍1) of the Criminal Code. The enactment also amends paragraph 462.‍48(2)‍(c) of the Criminal Code to provide that information may also be gathered under Part IX of the Excise Tax Act and under the Excise Act, 2001.
Part 2 implements certain Goods and Services Tax/Harmonized Sales Tax (GST/HST) measures by
(a) replacing the requirement that GST/HST be collected on a sale of carbon emission allowances with a requirement that the purchaser self-assess that GST/HST;
(b) extending the assessment period for group registered education savings plan trusts that make a special relieving election in respect of their past HST liability;
(c)  introducing GST/HST rules in respect of investment limited partnerships;
(d) clarifying the intended tax policy of excluding books that are sold by a public service body from the GST/HST rebate for printed books;
(e) introducing amendments similar to those to the Income Tax Act to extend the assessment period of a person by the period of time during which a requirement for information or compliance order is contested; and
(f)  introducing amendments similar to those to the Income Tax Act to enable the disclosure of confidential information to Canada’s bilateral mutual legal assistance treaty partners, or to Canadian police officers, for the purposes of non-tax criminal investigations and prosecution of certain serious crimes.
Part 3 implements certain excise measures by
(a) broadening the refund regime in respect of excise tax on diesel fuel to allow a vendor to apply for a refund where a purchaser will use excise tax-paid diesel fuel to generate electricity, if certain conditions are met;
(b) introducing an anti-avoidance excise measure relating to the taxation of cannabis in respect of the rules establishing the value of a cannabis product on which an ad valorem duty is calculated;
(c)  introducing amendments to the Air Travellers Security Charge Act and the Excise Act, 2001 that are similar to those to the Income Tax Act to extend the assessment period of a person by the period of time during which a requirement for information or compliance order is contested;
(d) introducing amendments to the Excise Act, 2001 that are similar to those to the Income Tax Act to enable the disclosure of confidential information to Canada’s bilateral mutual legal assistance treaty partners, or to Canadian police officers, for the purposes of non-tax criminal investigations and prosecution of certain serious crimes; and
(e) making housekeeping amendments to the Excise Act, 2001 in order to ensure consistency between the English and French version of the legislation.
Part 4 enacts and amends several Acts in order to implement various measures.
Division 1 of Part 4 amends the Customs Tariff in order to simplify it and reduce the administrative burden for Canadian businesses and the Government of Canada by consolidating similar tariff items that have the same tariff rates and removing end-use provisions where appropriate. The amendments also clarify existing tariff provisions and make other technical amendments.
Division 2 of Part 4 amends the Canada Pension Plan to modify the calculation of the amount to be attributed for a year in which a contributor is a family allowance recipient and their first or second additional contributory period begins or ends.
Subdivision A of Division 3 of Part 4 amends the Trust and Loan Companies Act, the Bank Act and the Insurance Companies Act to, among other things,
(a) establish thresholds below which the acquisition of control of certain entities, or the acquisition or increase of a substantial investment in them, does not require the approval of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions;
(b) allow financial institutions to invest in the Canadian business growth fund; and
(c) ensure that customers can provide consent electronically to receive electronic documents.
It also corrects a reference to the Insurance Companies Act in the Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 1.
Subdivision B of Division 3 of Part 4 amends the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation Act to, among other things,
(a) make technical amendments to clarify the method of calculating insured deposits, to remove outdated references, to repeal certain provisions not yet in force and to clarify that withdrawals made following the amalgamation of two or more member institutions or the continuance as a federal credit union will be considered to be made from pre-existing deposits and that the separation of accounts following the amalgamation is limited to a period of two years;
(b) exclude amounts borrowed by the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation under paragraph 60.‍2(2)‍(c) of the Financial Administration Act from the calculation of the Corporation’s total principal indebtedness; and
(c) clarify that the liquidator of a member institution of the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation must not apply the law of set-off or compensation to a claim related to insured deposits.
It also repeals two sections of the Financial System Review Act.
Subdivision C of Division 3 of Part 4 amends the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions Act, the Trust and Loan Companies Act, the Bank Act and the Insurance Companies Act to, among other things, clarify that providing legally privileged information to the Superintendent of Financial Institutions does not constitute a waiver of the privilege.
Division 4 of Part 4 amends the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act to remove the right of persons to decide not to proceed further with importing or exporting currency or monetary instruments that are required to be reported.
Division 5 of Part 4 amends the Canada–Newfoundland and Labrador Atlantic Accord Implementation Act to, among other things, allow for the application, within the offshore area, of the provincial greenhouse gas pricing regime and to confer powers and impose duties and functions on the Canada–Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board for the application of that regime. It also amends the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act to provide that the provincial regime does not apply if the offshore area is mentioned in Part 2 of Schedule 1 to that Act. Finally, it amends the Offshore Health and Safety Act to postpone the repeal of certain regulations.
Division 6 of Part 4 amends the Canada Business Corporations Act to set out criteria for identifying individuals with significant control over a corporation. The Division also sets out a requirement for a corporation that meets certain criteria to keep a register of individuals with significant control and requirements respecting the information to be recorded in it. Finally, the Division includes applicable offences and punishments.
Subdivision A of Division 7 of Part 4 amends the Patent Act in order to
(a) provide a regulation-making authority for the establishment of requirements for written demands relating to patents;
(b) specify that an act committed for the purpose of experimentation relating to the subject matter of a patent is not an infringement of the patent and that licencing commitments that bind the owner of a standard-essential patent or the holder of a certificate of supplementary protection that sets out such a patent bind any subsequent owners or holders;
(c) expand the rights of a person in respect of a claim in a patent who meets the requirements to be considered a prior user;
(d) ensure that patent prosecution histories may be admissible into evidence for certain purposes;
(e) clarify when a late fee must be paid in respect of divisional applications as well as when the confidentiality period begins in the case where a request for priority is deemed never to have been made.
Subdivision B of Division 7 of Part 4 amends the Trade-marks Act to, among other things,
(a) add bad faith as a ground of opposition to the registration of a trade-mark and for the invalidation of a trade-mark registration;
(b) prevent the owner of a registered trade-mark from obtaining relief for acts done contrary to section 19, 20 or 22 of that Act during the first three years after the trade-mark is registered unless the trade-mark was in use in Canada during that period or special circumstances exist that excuse the absence of use;
(c) clarify that the prohibitions in subparagraph 9(1)‍(n)‍(iii) and section 11 of that Act do not apply with respect to a badge, crest, emblem or mark that was the subject of a public notice of adoption and use as an official mark if the entity that made the request for the public notice is not a public authority or no longer exists; and
(d) modernize the conduct of various proceedings before the Registrar of Trade-marks, including by providing the Registrar with additional powers in such proceedings.
It also makes certain housekeeping amendments to provisions of the Trade-marks Act that are enacted by the Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1 and the Combating Counterfeit Products Act.
Subdivision C of Division 7 of Part 4 amends the Copyright Act in order to specify that certain information is not permitted to be included within a notice under the notice and notice regime and to provide for a regulation-making power to prohibit further types of information from being included within such a notice.
Subdivision D of Division 7 of Part 4 enacts the College of Patent Agents and Trade-mark Agents Act. That Act establishes the College of Patent Agents and Trade-mark Agents, which is to be responsible for the regulation of patent agents and trade-mark agents in the public interest. That Act, among other things,
(a) requires that individuals obtain a licence in order to act as patent agents or trade-mark agents and that licensees comply with a code of professional conduct;
(b) authorizes the College’s Investigations Committee to receive complaints and conduct investigations into whether a licensee has committed professional misconduct or was incompetent;
(c) authorizes the College’s Discipline Committee to impose disciplinary measures if it decides that a licensee has committed professional misconduct or was incompetent; and
(d) creates new offences of claiming to be a patent agent or trade-mark agent and unauthorized representation before the Patent Office or the Office of the Registrar of Trade-marks.
That Subdivision also makes consequential amendments to certain Acts.
Subdivision E of Division 7 of Part 4 amends the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act to provide that intellectual property users may preserve their usage rights when intellectual property rights are sold or disposed of in an insolvency proceeding or when the agreement relating to such property rights is disclaimed or resiliated in such a proceeding. It also amends the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act to provide that intellectual property users may preserve their usage rights when intellectual property rights are sold or disposed of.
Subdivision F of Division 7 of Part 4 amends the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act to provide that the head of a government institution may refuse to disclose, under either of those Acts, information that is subject to the privilege set out in section 16.‍1 of the Patent Act or section 51.‍13 of the Trade-marks Act. It makes a related amendment to the Pest Control Products Act.
Subdivision G of Division 7 of Part 4 amends the National Research Council Act to clarify that the National Research Council of Canada has the authority to dispose of all forms of intellectual property that it develops, including future rights to such property and to provide the Council with the authority to dispose of real, personal, movable and immovable property, complementing the current provision in the Act that allows it to acquire such property.
Subdivision H of Division 7 of Part 4 amends the Copyright Act in order to modernize the legislative framework relating to the Copyright Board so as to improve the timeliness and clarity of its proceedings and decision-making processes. More specifically, it repeals spent provisions and
(a) codifies the Board’s mandate and establishes decision-making criteria;
(b) establishes new timelines in respect of Board matters, including earlier filing dates for proposed tariffs and longer effective periods for approved tariffs, and empowers the Governor in Council to make additional timelines by regulation;
(c) formalizes case management of Board proceedings;
(d) reduces the number of matters that must be considered by the Board;
(e) streamlines procedural steps across different tariff contexts, maintaining differences between them only where necessary;
(f) amends relevant enforcement provisions, including the availability of statutory damages for certain parties in respect of Board-set royalty rates and enforcement of Board-set terms and conditions; and
(g) modernizes existing language and structure for greater clarity and consistency.
Division 8 of Part 4 amends the Employment Insurance Act to, among other things, increase the maximum number of weeks for which parental benefits may be paid if these benefits are divided between claimants. It also amends the Canada Labour Code to, among other things, increase the aggregate amount of leave that may be taken by employees under sections 206.‍1 and 206.‍2 if that leave is divided between employees.
Division 9 of Part 4 enacts the Canadian Gender Budgeting Act in order to state the Government’s policy of promoting gender equality and inclusiveness by taking gender and diversity into consideration in the budget process. It also establishes related reporting requirements.
Division 10 of Part 4 amends the Bank Act to strengthen provisions that apply to a bank or an authorized foreign bank in relation to the protection of customers and the public. It implements enhancements in the areas of corporate governance, responsible business conduct, disclosure and transparency, and redress. It also amends the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada Act to strengthen the mandate of the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada and grant additional powers to that Agency.
Division 11 of Part 4 amends the First Nations Land Management Act to give effect to amendments to the Framework Agreement on First Nation Land Management respecting, among other things, procedures for obtaining community approval of a land code, the lands to which a land code may apply, the addition of lands to First Nation land by order of the Minister and the transfer of capital moneys.
Division 12 of Part 4 amends the First Nations Fiscal Management Act to, among other things,
(a) enable more Aboriginal organizations and First Nations to benefit from the provisions of the Act in order to strengthen their financial management systems and give them access to long-term financing;
(b) address certain administrative issues identified by the bodies established under the Act; and
(c) provide another option for First Nations to access moneys held by Her Majesty for their use and benefit.
Division 13 of Part 4 amends the Export and Import Permits Act to give the Minister of Foreign Affairs the authority to issue an import allocation for goods that are included on the Import Control List under subsection 5(6) of that Act.
Division 14 of Part 4 enacts the Pay Equity Act to establish a proactive process for the achievement of pay equity by the redressing of the systemic gender-based discrimination experienced by employees who occupy positions in predominantly female job classes. The new Act requires federal public and private sector employers that have 10 or more employees to establish and maintain a pay equity plan within set time frames so as to identify and correct differences in compensation between predominantly female and predominantly male job classes for which the work performed is of equal value. The new Act provides for the powers, duties and functions of a Pay Equity Commissioner, which include facilitating the resolution of disputes, conducting compliance audits and investigating disputes, objections and complaints, as well as making orders and imposing administrative monetary penalties for violations of that Act. The new Act also requires the Pay Equity Commissioner to report annually to Parliament on the administration and enforcement of the new Act.
Division 14 also amends the Parliamentary Employment and Staff Relations Act to provide for the application of the Pay Equity Act to parliamentary employers with certain adaptations and without limiting the powers, privileges and immunities of the Senate, the House of Commons and the members of those Houses.
It also makes the Minister of Labour responsible for the administration of the Federal Contractors Program for Pay Equity.
Finally, it makes related and consequential amendments to certain Acts and repeals the section of the Budget Implementation Act, 2009 that enacts the Public Sector Equitable Compensation Act.
Subdivision A of Division 15 of Part 4 amends the Canada Labour Code to, among other things,
(a) provide five days of paid leave for victims of family violence, a personal leave of five days with three paid days, an unpaid leave for court or jury duty and a fourth week of annual vacation with pay for employees who have completed at least 10 consecutive years of employment;
(b) eliminate minimum length of service requirements for leaves and general holiday pay and reduce the length of service requirement for three weeks of vacation with pay;
(c) prohibit differences in rate of wages based on the employment status of employees;
(d) address continuity of employment issues when a work, undertaking or business becomes federally regulated or in cases of contract retendering; and
(e) update group and individual termination provisions by increasing the minimum notice of termination.
Subdivision B of Division 15 of Part 4 amends the Canada Labour Code to allow the Minister of Labour to designate a Head of Compliance and Enforcement who will exercise most of the powers and perform most of the duties and functions that are related to the administration and enforcement of Parts II, III and IV of the Code.
Division 16 of Part 4 amends the Wage Earner Protection Program Act to, among other things, increase the maximum amount that may be paid to an individual under the Act, expand the definition of eligible wages, expand the conditions under which a payment may be made under the Act and create additional requirements related to Her Majesty in right of Canada’s right of subrogation in respect of payments made under the Act.
Division 17 of Part 4 amends the Bretton Woods and Related Agreements Act, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Agreement Act and the Official Development Assistance Accountability Act to harmonize the periods within which the reports under those Acts must be laid before Parliament in order to better communicate Canada’s international development efforts. It also repeals the definition of “official development assistance” in the Official Development Assistance Accountability Act and confers the power to define this expression by regulation.
Division 17 also enacts the International Financial Assistance Act, which provides the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister for International Development with powers, duties and functions to support the delivery of a sovereign loans program, an international assistance innovation program and a federal international assistance program that promotes the mitigation of or adaptation to climate change through repayable contributions.
Division 18 of Part 4 enacts the Department for Women and Gender Equality Act which, among other things, establishes the Department for Women and Gender Equality to assist the Minister responsible for that department in exercising or performing the Minister’s powers, duties and functions that extend to and include all matters relating to women and gender equality, including the advancement of equality in respect of sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression and the promotion of a greater understanding of the intersection of sex and gender with other identity factors. It also contains transitional provisions. Finally, Division 18 makes consequential amendments to other Acts.
Division 19 of Part 4 enacts the Addition of Lands to Reserves and Reserve Creation Act which authorizes a Minister, designated by the Governor in Council, to set apart lands as reserves for the use and benefit of First Nations. The Division also repeals Part 2 of the Manitoba Claim Settlements Implementation Act and the Claim Settlements (Alberta and Saskatchewan) Implementation Act.
Division 20 of Part 4 amends section 715.‍42 of the Criminal Code to require the publication of any decision not to publish a remediation agreement or order related to that agreement and of any decision related to the review of such a decision, to specify that the court may make the first decision subject to a condition, including one related to the duration of non-publication, and to allow anyone to request a review of that decision.
Division 21 of Part 4 enacts the Poverty Reduction Act, which sets out two targets for poverty reduction in Canada.
Division 22 of Part 4 amends the Canada Shipping Act, 2001 to, among other things,
(a) authorize the Governor in Council to make regulations respecting the protection of the marine environment from the impacts of navigation and shipping activities;
(b) authorize the Minister of Transport to
(i) make an interim order to mitigate risks to marine safety or to the marine environment, and
(ii) exempt any person or vessel from the application of any provision of that Act or the regulations if doing so would allow the undertaking of research and development that may enhance marine safety or environmental protection;
(c) increase the maximum amount of an administrative penalty that the Governor in Council may fix by regulation;
(d) authorize the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, pollution response officers and accompanying persons to enter private property in the case of a discharge of oil from a vessel or oil handling facility; and
(e) double the administration monetary penalties for certain violations.
Division 23 of Part 4 amends the Marine Liability Act to modernize the Ship-source Oil Pollution Fund, including, among other things,
(a) removing the Fund’s per-occurrence limit of liability;
(b) in the event that the Fund is depleted, authorizing the temporary transfer to the Fund of funds from the Consolidated Revenue Fund;
(c) modernizing the Fund’s levy so that the Fund is replenished by receivers and exporters of oil;
(d) ensuring that the Fund’s liability for claims for economic losses caused by oil pollution aligns with international conventions;
(e) providing that the Fund is liable for the costs and expenses incurred by the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans or any other person in respect of preventive measures when the occurrence for which those costs and expenses were incurred has not yet created a grave and imminent threat of causing oil pollution damage;
(f) authorizing the provision of up-front emergency funding out of the Fund to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans for significant oil pollution incidents;
(g) creating an expedited, simplified process for small claims to the Fund; and
(h) providing for administrative monetary penalties for contraventions of specified or designated provisions under that Act.

Motion that debate be not further adjourned

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am grateful for the question from the member opposite. It allows me to reiterate the work we have done in partnership with organized labour to strengthen workplaces and to provide decent work in this country for the most vulnerable workers.

There is no question that our government has made huge strides to actually protect workers in Canadian workplaces. He is right. Since forming government, we have repealed extremely harmful legislation that made it much harder for unions to organize and collectively bargain. We amended the Canada Labour Code to provide additional rights to flexibility for workers and to implement different leaves. We strengthened occupational and health and safety standards for workers so that they would have safe workplaces, something unions have fought for for a very long time. We passed Bill C-65 to protect workers from harassment, sexual violence and violence of all kinds. We ratified ILO Convention 98, which protects the right of workers to collectively organize and bargain.

In Bill C-86, we would modernize labour standards, which would, again, provide basic standards for the most vulnerable, and dignified work in workplaces that oftentimes vulnerable workers struggle in. We are introducing pay equity legislation, which would provide for mandatory assessments of work in federally regulated workplaces and make sure that women receive pay for work of equal value. We have almost doubled the benefits through the Wage Earner Protection Program Act, something unions have talked consistently about needing for those vulnerable workers. Finally, and I do not think it is a small thing, we have taken steps to ban asbestos in our workplaces, something organized labour again has fought for.

We have worked closely with organized labour. We will continue to work closely with organized labour. I am proud of the record of this government.

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that the member opposite wants to talk about the work we have been doing with labour and the support for workers in our country, because in fact there is no question that our government has taken the well-being of workers very seriously.

First, we repealed Bill C-525 and C-377. We passed Bill C-4, which restored fair and balanced labour relations in the country. It made it easier for organized labour to recruit new members and grow their movements. We amended the Canada Labour Code to give federally regulated employees the right to flexible work arrangements and implement different leaves. We strengthened occupational health and safety standards. We passed Bill C-65, which provides federally regulated employees with protection against workplace violence. We ratified ILO convention 98 to ensure the right to organize and to collective bargaining.

Through Bill C-86, we are modernizing labour standards, largely informed by the conversations we have had with organized labour about the most vulnerable workers in our workplaces and the protections they need in a modern Canada Labour Code.

We introduced pay equity legislation. Again, it was appealed for by labour for many years before we formed government. We worked with them to make sure we could listen to those concerns and address something that is fundamentally a right: equal pay for work of equal value. We have almost doubled the benefits from the wage earner protection program.

I could go on. Our government profoundly believes in the rights of workers, especially the most vulnerable workers in our workplaces, and we have worked very well with organized labour to make sure we get those details right.

Business of the House

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, this afternoon, we will resume third reading debate of Bill C-81, the accessibility legislation.

Our intention for tomorrow is to call Bill C-75, justice modernization, at third reading. We sincerely hope that Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers reach an agreement. However, if they do not, we will call government Motion. No. 25, concerning the resumption of postal services, for debate tomorrow.

On Monday, we will consider report stage and third reading of Bill C-86, Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 2. This will also be the business for Tuesday and Wednesday.

[David Groves]

Bill C-419, an act to amend the Bank Act, the Trust and Loan Companies Act, the Insurance Companies Act and the Cooperative Credit Associations Act with regard to credit cards would make a series of amendments to those acts around credit cards. It would, for example, regulate how banks allocate payments across different credit accounts with different interest rates, require that a credit card provider seek express consent before increasing a credit limit, and require that the credit card advertisements include information on fees and rates.

I have noted the bill in my analysis because of some overlap in substance with Bill C-86, a second act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on February 27, 2018 and other measures. Division 10 of that bill, which is entitled “Financial Consumer Protection Framework”, would make a series of amendments to the Bank Act, some of which touch on credit cards as well. It would, for example, amend the Bank Act to add proposed section 627.35, which would regulate the allocation of payments across credit accounts with different interest rates, just like Bill C-419. It would also include a requirement that bank advertising be “accurate, clear and not misleading”, and would require that express consent before providing any product or service.

To summarize, both bills would regulate, among other things, the ways in which banks administer, offer and advertise credit card accounts. However, while Bill C-419 extends to cover credit card providers that are regulated under four acts—the Bank Act, the Trust and Loan Companies Act, the Insurance Companies Act and the Cooperative Credit Associations Act, Bill C-86 only amends the Bank Act.

One condition that this committee considers in assessing the votability of private members' items is that an item—this is the quote—“must not concern questions that are currently on the Order Paper or Notice Paper as items of government business”. In this case we have a situation of some degree of overlap between Bill C-419 and Bill C-86, which is on the Order Paper and is a piece of government business, but there are differences in scope. Bill C-419 has a broader statutory ambit. It would extend its provision to three other acts and to the institutions that would ultimately be covered under those acts.

Postal Services Resumption and Continuation Act

[Kamal Khera]

Mr. Speaker, as I have stated, I have received many calls, including during our constituency week. I have met with many postal workers. I have also met with businesses, individuals and constituents who have been impacted by the strike. As members know, our government has always supported union workers. There is no question that our government has made huge strides with organized labour and Canadian workers.

Since forming government, we have repealed Bill C-525 and Bill C-377 to restore fair and balanced labour relations. We amended the Canada Labour Code to give federally regulated employees the right to flexible work arrangements, and have implemented different leaves. We strengthened occupational health and safety standards. We passed Bill C-65 to protect federally regulated employees from workplace harassment and violence. In Bill C-86, we are modernizing labour standards to reflect today's workplaces. We are introducing pay equity legislation to ensure fairness. We are almost doubling the benefits of the wage earner protection program.

We have always had the back of labour unions. We have always stood with them. We will continue to stand beside them and support them.

[Dan Ruimy, Liberal, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind my colleague on the other side that since forming government, we have been pretty busy. I am proud to have worked personally on repealing Bill C-525 and Bill C-377 to restore fair and balanced labour relations. We passed Bill C-65 to protect federally regulated employees from harassment and workplace violence. In Bill C-86, we are modernizing labour standards to reflect today's workplace. We are introducing pay equity legislation to ensure fairness.

It is quite clear that the Liberals cherish the relationship that we have with our labour organizations. It is important we continue to work with them to find better ways to execute what needs to happen.

In this case, as a government, there has to be a time where action has to happen. We are still hopeful that before this legislation is posted, they can come to a conclusion.

[William Harnum, Chair, Canadian Copyright Institute]

I appear before you today on behalf of the Canadian Copyright Institute, an association of authors, producers, publishers and distributors of copyright works. Founded in 1965, the institute seeks to encourage a better understanding of copyright.

We strongly support two basic models for the remuneration of authors and publishers. The first is the traditional publisher model, in which the publisher holds and manages the rights of professional authors, whose works they edit, design, produce, market, sell and distribute. The second is the exercise and management of some rights by collective societies representing authors and publishers. Both basic models are important, as they support each other. Collective societies engage in experiments to provide educators with convenient sources of copyrighted material, and publishers continue to experiment with new methods of delivery, including new ways of making works available.

Getting permission to make copies of published copyrighted content was onerous prior to the formation in 1988 of Access Copyright, which at the time was known as CANCOPY. This is a collective society that today represents more than 12,000 Canadian authors and 600 publishers and, through agreements with other collectives, countless authors and publishers worldwide.

When Access Copyright's blanket licences became available in the 1990s, the arduous task of clearing individual permissions from individual rights holders was replaced by negotiated collective licences covering most published copyright material. Collective licensing became the norm for copying at schools and other educational institutions. It was easy, efficient and cheap for educators to access content from both Canadian and foreign publications from Access Copyright and Copibec. Authors and publishers were paid by these collective societies.

Today widespread, large-scale, systematic copying of copyrighted content in educational institutions, without compensation, damages the remuneration models I have described and hurts both authors and publishers. Copying substitutes for purchasing books and other publications from publishers and for obtaining licences, mainly from collective societies, to copy excerpts from publications. Emboldened by the 2012 copyright amendment extending fair dealing to include education as a purpose, educators decided that most of what was being copied should not be paid for at all. They promulgated arbitrary fair dealing guidelines permitting, for example, copying of 10% of a work, a chapter from a book, an article from a periodical or newspaper, or an entire poem or artistic work from a publication containing other works.

These guidelines more or less reflect the guidelines in the licences that educators had negotiated with Access Copyright and complied with for over 20 years. The only difference is these new guidelines provide for no revenue. The market for selling and licensing copyrighted material is now badly damaged, both for publishers and for writers. A reduction of revenues in an industry such as ours with narrow profit margins for publishers and low income for writers and authors is significant.

Before moving to our specific recommendations, let me say that we welcome the amendments in the budget bill, Bill C-86, intended to accelerate Copyright Board proceedings, including case management and new timelines. We generally affirm our support for the role of the Copyright Board in setting tariffs and mediating disputes on licensing terms between users and collective societies.

Our recommendations to you today fall into two categories, both essential for the functioning of the two remuneration models we have described. The first recommendations address what may be licensed by collective societies, and the last recommendations concern enforceability and remedies that will deter infringement and encourage users to negotiate seriously with collective societies on the use of copyright material.

First, we recommend that copying for the purpose of education in educational institutions be clarified by clear parameters, either in regulations or in the Copyright Act itself. There are already a number of specific exceptions designed for educational institutions, but fair dealing for the purpose of education is a wide-open door for large-scale infringement.

Australia provides an example of a statutory licence for educational institutions managed by a collective society designated by the Australian government and subject to guidelines. In the United Kingdom, copying of excerpts from a work for the purpose of instruction for non-commercial purposes without a licence is restricted to not more than 5% of any work in any 12-month period, but only to the extent that licences are not available for that copying.

This is a precise exception, not a category of fair dealing.

Copying for the purpose of education in Canada should require permission either from a collective society or a rights holder. For most educational institutions this permission should be a comprehensive or blanket licence, which is either an agreement negotiated by a collective society and users of its repertoire, subject to the oversight of the Copyright Board, or a tariff administered by a collective society requiring the approval of the Copyright Board, usually following a hearing.

Second, we recommend clarification that tariffs approved by the Copyright Board are mandatory. There should be no uncertainty regarding the enforceability of royalties set by the Copyright Board. The education sector is unlikely to pay voluntary tariffs.

Third, we recommend the repeal of a provision inserted into the Copyright Act in 2012 that reduces awards of statutory damages against non-commercial infringers to trivial amounts. Any copyright owner whose work is infringed should be entitled to damages sufficiently high to be a deterrent, whether the infringer had a commercial or non-commercial purpose or whether any other copyright owner has elected to receive damages from the same defendant. Few authors or publishers have the resources to engage in the litigation necessary to prove actual damages. Electing statutory damages avoids the necessity of that much litigation.

Fourth, we recommend harmonizing the statutory damages available to collective societies at a level sufficiently meaningful to ensure better compliance with licences and tariffs approved by the Copyright Board. Currently, performing rights collectives like SOCAN may opt for an award of statutory damages between three and 10 times the amount of the applicable royalties. This remedy should be available to all collectives, including collectives like Access Copyright. Otherwise, the worst-case scenario for a user is retroactive payment of applicable royalties.

There is no reason musicians and songwriters deserve to be paid for the use of their work while authors and visual artists do not. We recommend that all copyright collectives should be eligible to collect statutory damages between three and 10 times the value of the tariff. This system has worked well for performing rights music collectives for 20 years and should be extended to collectives representing other rights holders.

It is our view that changes to the Copyright Act along the lines we recommend will provide fairer remuneration for authors and publishers and better access to creative works for users, will go a long way towards restoring a functioning marketplace for Canadian content and will benefit all Canadians.

Thank you.

Finance

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 26th report of the Standing Committee on Finance in relation to Bill C-86, a second act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on February 27, 2018 and other measures. The committee reports the bill with amendments.

While I am on my feet, I move, seconded by the member for Yukon:

That the House do now proceed to orders of the day.

[Suki Beavers, Project Director, National Association of Women and the Law]

I'm going to hazard a guess that I may be more fascinating. Let's see. The gauntlet has been thrown down.

Good evening and thank you very much for this opportunity to speak on Bill C-78, on behalf of the National Association of Women and the Law. As I think most of you know, NAWL is an incorporated, not-for-profit, feminist organization that promotes women's equality in Canada through legal education, research and law reform advocacy. Advocating for the much-needed changes to family laws, including the Divorce Act, has been a focus of NAWL's work since the early 1980s, so it brings me great pleasure to begin this evening by congratulating the government for introducing C-78. There are many aspects of this bill that we fully support.

However, before I get into talking about the specifics, I want to reflect that NAWL worked jointly with Luke's Place in developing both a discussion paper and a brief on C-78, which I think you all now have. Our joint brief has been endorsed by 31 organizations from British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick, as well as more than a dozen national feminist and equality-seeking groups, and is the fruit of consultations that we convened with feminist lawyers, academics, service providers and advocates. I mention this, not just because we're proud of our network and of our collaborative work—because we are—but also because it's important to emphasize the depth and the breadth of our shared feminist intersectional analysis of Bill C-78, particularly in relation to the issue of family violence in the context of divorce.

Now, let me turn to some specifics, beginning with the aspects of the bill that we fully support. We congratulate the government for putting the best interests of the child at the centre of this bill and for developing a much-needed set of criteria to help guide the determination of what will be in the best interests of each child, based on the recognition that every family and every child's needs are unique. NAWL fully supports the exclusion from this bill of any presumptions of shared parenting. Determining what's in the best interests of the child must be done on a case-by-case basis.

We also fully support the inclusion of family violence in this bill and a comprehensive definition of it that recognizes that family violence exists on a spectrum.

I now want to turn to some aspects of the bill that we think do not yet go far enough because, as we know, the impacts of family violence can continue long after a marriage ends.

Our first recommendation is that a preamble be added to this bill that acknowledges the gendered nature of family violence and confirms that addressing family violence is one of its aims. The evidence here is clear and unequivocal. As with other forms of gender-based violence, the majority of victim survivors of violence within marriage, and when it ends, are women. Men are overwhelmingly the perpetrators of this violence. A preamble is important because it can guide the interpretation of an act and is good practice. Just a few weeks ago, when it was used in Bill C-86 to frame the establishment of the new department of women and gender equality, which will replace Status of Women Canada, that bill included a preamble that recognized the government's obligations to advance women's rights and gender equality. A similar preamble should be added to C-78 that recognizes that women experience family violence, as a form of violence against women, and that women have diverse lived experiences of it. We've drafted a preamble that we hope this committee will recommend to be included in the act.

In addition, we also recommend that a definition of violence against women be added, which acknowledges that it is a form of gender-based discrimination that's experienced by women in multiple ways and shaped by other forms of discrimination and disadvantage. This intersects with race, indigenous identity, ethnicity, religion, gender identity or gender expression, sexual orientation, citizenship, immigration or refugee status, geographic location, social condition, age and disability. This would be consistent with the government's commitment to GBA+.

The appalling and ongoing situation of violence against indigenous women must be redressed immediately. We urge the federal government to consult with indigenous women's groups on the potential impacts of C-78 on indigenous women, their children, their communities and their families to ensure the cultural heritage, safety, security, autonomy and rights of indigenous women and their children are respected, protected and fulfilled, and not further endangered or violated by any direct or indirect impacts of any of the provisions of C-78.

We propose the addition of provisions to help ensure decision-makers do not rely on harmful myths or stereotypes about family violence, even inadvertently, when they're making decisions in the context of divorce. While I don't have time to read through the entire section that we have drafted—I hope you will, though—I will highlight some of them, including for example, that a court should not infer that because a relationship has ended or divorce proceedings have begun the family violence has ended.

A court should not infer that if claims of family violence are made late in the proceedings or were not made in previous proceedings they're false or exaggerated. A court should not infer that if a spouse continued to reside or maintain a financial, sexual or business relationship—or a relationship for immigration purposes—with a spouse, or has in the past left and returned to a spouse, family violence did not happen or the claims are exaggerated.

The court should not infer that leaving a violent household to reside in a shelter or other temporary housing is contrary to the best interests of the child. The court should not infer that fleeing a jurisdiction with children in order to escape family violence is contrary to the best interests of the child. Also, the court should not infer that the absence of observable physical injuries or the absence of external expressions of fear mean that the abuse did not happen.

I don't have time to adequately address this issue, but I also want to reflect some thoughts on changes to language included in Bill C-78.

We understand and commend the objective of reducing tensions and conflict in divorce proceedings. However, there is no evidence that removing the familiar language of custody and access will actually reduce conflict and benefit children. Further, there's a real risk that this change in terminology will create uncertainty that will be available to abusers to exploit and to perpetuate ongoing abuse through court proceedings and otherwise.

Indeed, we heard from feminists in other jurisdictions, including British Columbia, where similar language changes have been made, that they have not seen a reduction in conflict in family law proceedings after the terminology of custody and access was removed from the provincial Family Law Act. Therefore, we recommend that the language of custody and access be retained and inserted in Bill C-78.

In addition, we believe the proposed definitions of parenting orders and parenting responsibilities are too vague and ambiguous and also provide opportunities for abuse. We recommend, therefore, that a clearer set of responsibilities be set out for the parent with decision-making responsibility.

Because of time constraints, I'm going to end my comments here, but I'm of course eager to answer any questions that the committee might have. I want to simply confirm that NAWL supports the positions that Luke's Place will now present, which, like ours, are the product of our joint work together.

I thank the committee again for providing NAWL with the opportunity to appear this evening.

[Cathy McLeod]

Mr. Chair, I do want to make one statement before we move to the final votes.

There are no longer hard copies provided. With 802 pages I guess they wanted to save us all from back injuries.

My concern is that there were three sections that related to my portfolio. There were no linkable links, so in order to actually get to the part of the BIA, in 802 pages, you actually had to scroll with a very slow-loading document. I think that if this ever happens again, it is a point of privilege for parliamentarians to do the work they need to do. Division 11, division 12 and division 19 were completely inaccessible for me to look at. I think it's unacceptable for a government to present an 802-page budget document in a form so that members of Parliament cannot actually look at the divisions they need to look at in an appropriate way.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Can we deal with it this way then? Can we table this motion to after the vote and deal with the BIA now? There are only five votes left on this and then we're done. Then we would come back and deal with your motion.

[Greg Fergus, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Mr. Chair, I would like to finish the business of the BIA before we consider this, and then break and perhaps adjourn so that we can go and vote, please.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

We haven't voted on clause 470 yet.

As long as we're not out of order in doing that, we'll deal with this motion and then come back to complete our work on the BIA.

Mr. Kmiec.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

We're not out of order here by dealing with this motion prior to dealing with the rest of the BIA, are we?

[Charles Philippe Rochon]

To clarify, the BIA does not institute new leaves—the 104 weeks and 52 weeks. These were put in place in 2012. What the BIA does is eliminate the length-of-service requirements, in order for an employee to qualify for these leaves. The code currently states that employees need six months of continuous employment. This will be removed as part of the BIA, and that's what the BIA does.