Finance Committee on Dec. 1st, 2011

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Thank you, Ms. Glover.

Mr. Mai, s'il vous plaît.

[Hoang Mai, NDP, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I have questions regarding the advertising. We went into that already. If I'm not mistaken, there was $2.4 million for advertising. I'd like to know what specifically the government's instructions were regarding the criteria for this and what should be implemented?

[Jean-Michel Catta]

The $2.4 million is the cost of an advertising campaign that we managed in June of this year, which immediately followed the tabling of Budget 2011. Again, it focused specifically on some of the measures and initiatives that were included in the budget, for example, the ecoENERGY retrofit program, the hiring credit for small business, the family caregiver tax credit, and some of the other measures that were included in the budget.

[Hoang Mai, NDP, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

Those were to inform...because we also saw that the CRA has invested in getting people to know what their tax credits are. Is that to inform the public on how they're going to benefit, or is it just that this is part of the economic action plan? That was the whole advertising thing?

[Jean-Michel Catta]

I would say it's a combination of both, that these measures are part of the government's economic action plan dealing with the economic situation that we know, but also informing Canadians about specific measures and how they can benefit from them.

[Hoang Mai, NDP, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

Can you split the amounts that were put toward advertising the action plan versus the amounts for more specific...?

[Jean-Michel Catta]

Essentially, the overall campaign was a combination of both, in that the advertising that we did included both aspects. It's about the economic action plan and it refers to some specific measures, but essentially it's one campaign. So from that perspective, it's not possible to divvy up the $2.4 million. It's the cost of the overall campaign.

[Hoang Mai, NDP, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

Was the advertising budget different from the publicity budget, or the advertising amount that the CRA had?

[Jean-Michel Catta]

Yes, it is a different budget.

[Hoang Mai, NDP, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

Thank you very much.

Regarding the task force for the payments system review, do we know when the work will be completed and if that will have an impact on the regulations regarding financial institutions?

[Diane Lafleur, General Director, Financial Sector Policy Branch, Department of Finance]

The task force is expected to report before the end of the year, and it is too early to say what is going to be in that report.

[Hoang Mai, NDP, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

I know the task force's mandate, but what were the initial criteria to look at....

[Diane Lafleur]

The mandate was quite broad. It was to look at all aspects of payment systems regulation in Canada, looking at questions of effectiveness, safety, soundness, and competitiveness, etc. So it was to take quite a holistic approach in looking at payment systems, which essentially has not been reviewed in Canada in the last decade.

This is a very dynamic area of the financial sector. Now was felt to be a good time to look at these questions so that Canada can be positioned to be a world leader in the payment systems area.

[Hoang Mai, NDP, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

You said it's too early to have an idea, but since the information regarding the report is public, can you tell us if there is an idea of where we're going with that?

[Diane Lafleur]

It's an independent task force, and they are in the process of preparing their final report. If you are interested, a consultation report was released by the task force. It's basically a report on what they heard through their public consultations process. It's called The Way We Pay and is available on the task force's website. It give you a sense of what the various stakeholders brought to the table and the representations the task force has received.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Thank you, Mr. Mai.

We'll go to Mr. Wallace, please.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's my pleasure to be back here for an hour. They had sent me over to the government operations and estimates committee so that I could deal with the estimates all day long, which has been fascinating. We've had, I think, six different departments in front of us, and it's been fun.

First of all, let me say that I did a chart on every department that we've had appear over the last five years. It tracks the delta between what they asked for in the mains and what they asked for in the supplementary estimates—what that percentage is—and then what they actually spent based on the public accounts. The finance department comes out pretty well, to be honest with you, in terms of how much is in the supplementaries—which I don't like, though I know they are a requirement—and how much it asked for in the mains.

I do appreciate that, and I understand you are only here to cover some of what's printed in the pages. I do have one question for you, following up on Mr. Julian's question. In the mains that we've passed, there is transitional money for assistance to the harmonized value-added tax framework. It's an agreement. It was down this year. Would that have included the money we sent to British Columbia for the amalgamation of their sales tax? Would it already be included in that amount in the mains? Which line would it show up on when the province pays us back the money we have given them for the transition—money that I think they owe us because they decided not to proceed?

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

You asked a question about it, so I'm following up on it.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

The question is through the chair to the witnesses, please. Thank you.

Ms. Harrison.

[Sherry Harrison]

We have a colleague to respond to that.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

It's under vote 1b. There's a statutory piece and transitional assistance for the harmonized sales tax.

[Pierre Mercille, Senior Chief, Sales Tax Division, Tax Policy Branch, Department of Finance]

Yes, there is an amount of $1,880,000,000. That amount includes two amounts: $1.3 billion that was paid to Ontario the first business day after July 1 this year, and $580 million that was paid to B.C. the first business day after July 1 this year.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

How much was paid to B.C.?

[Pierre Mercille]

It was $580 million.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

So if there's an agreement to pay that back—