Evidence of meeting #88 for Finance in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was amendments.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Michael MacPherson  Procedural Clerk
Miriam Burke  Procedural Clerk
Gérard Lalonde  Director, Tax Legislation Division, Tax Policy Branch, Department of Finance
Alex Lessard  Tax Policy Officer, Sales Tax Division, Tax Policy Branch, Department of Finance
Lise Potvin  Director, Sales Tax Division, Tax Policy, Department of Finance
Pierre Mercille  Chief, GST Legislation, Sales Tax Division, Tax Policy Branch, Department of Finance

4:05 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Brian Pallister

If you wish to challenge my ruling—

4:05 p.m.

Liberal

John McCallum Liberal Markham—Unionville, ON

I challenge the chair's ruling.

4:05 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Brian Pallister

Okay

All in favour of the chair's ruling, so indicate.

[Ruling of the chair sustained]

The chair's ruling is upheld. Now we'll move on.

Mr. McCallum, we have your first amendment and the others, apart from this one. Would you like to speak to that cluster, as you wished earlier?

4:05 p.m.

Liberal

John McCallum Liberal Markham—Unionville, ON

No. In the interests of time, I think we've discussed this around this table enough. Basically our proposal is for a 10% tax, refundable to all Canadian residents, to replace the 31.5% tax.

4:05 p.m.

Liberal

Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC

Now it's not going to be refundable.

4:05 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Brian Pallister

All right.

I'll need unanimous consent to treat the block of amendments that Mr. McCallum has here as we discussed earlier. We will vote on the block of amendments, 2972643, 2975078, and 2975140.

(Amendments negatived [See Minutes of Proceedings])

4:05 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Brian Pallister

Are those the only amendments for clause 12?

4:05 p.m.

Procedural Clerk

4:05 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Brian Pallister

Shall clause 12 carry?

4:05 p.m.

Liberal

Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC

A recorded vote.

4:05 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Brian Pallister

A recorded vote has been requested by Mr. Pacetti on clause 12.

(Clause 12 agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])

(On clause 13)

4:05 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Brian Pallister

I have amendment L-2, reference 2972689.

Who would like to speak to that?

4:05 p.m.

Conservative

Diane Ablonczy Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB

Mr. Chair, I have a point of order. The government has a technical amendment on the same clause; it may satisfy some of the concerns raised in the Liberal amendment. I just raise that in case you might want to deal with the government amendment first.

4:05 p.m.

Liberal

Robert Thibault Liberal West Nova, NS

What is the number of the government amendment, Diane?

4:05 p.m.

A voice

G-1.

4:05 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Brian Pallister

Whom did you want to speak on that one?

4:05 p.m.

Liberal

John McCallum Liberal Markham—Unionville, ON

I can speak to that.

4:10 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Brian Pallister

Sure. Please do.

4:10 p.m.

Liberal

John McCallum Liberal Markham—Unionville, ON

This is a purely technical amendment that doesn't question the spirit or intention of the law at all. The amendment is that clause 13 be amended by deleting lines 26 to 32 on page 16.

This amendment removes the definition of “public market”. At a later point in the bill these words will be removed in order to ensure that the bill meets its policy objectives. Currently there is great concern that the wording will capture private partnerships involving such things as law firms. I believe that would be an unfortunate unintended consequence of this bill.

So this is a positive, spirited move to improve the bill.

4:10 p.m.

Conservative

Dean Del Mastro Conservative Peterborough, ON

You can't improve this bill!

4:10 p.m.

An hon. member

He can't even say it with a straight face.

4:10 p.m.

Liberal

John McCallum Liberal Markham—Unionville, ON

Or make it less bad.

4:10 p.m.

Some hon. members

Oh, oh!

4:10 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Brian Pallister

Is there any other speaker on the amendment?

Yes, Mr. McKay.

4:10 p.m.

Liberal

John McKay Liberal Scarborough—Guildwood, ON

I direct an inquiry to the officials.

This was raised by Mr. Morand yesterday, and it has been raised by others. It may be that ordinary partnerships are in fact caught by the provisions here.

I want to ask the officials the real question, if taking amendment G-1 together with the Liberal amendment—which essentially just deletes the non-portfolio piece—addresses the issues raised, particularly by Mr. Morand in yesterday's testimony, which I assume you've read.