Bob Zimmer

[Natural Resources, February 26th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, these new developments will create jobs and economic growth, in B.C. and across Canada.

Could the parliamentary secretary tell this House how our government is supporting this important industry?

[Natural Resources, February 26th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, B.C. is now embarking on a new path by moving forward on exporting liquefied natural gas, or LNG. These new developments will create jobs and economic growth in B.C. and across Canada.

[Natural Resources, February 26th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, British Columbia is developing its resource potential while ensuring the environment is protected. B.C. is known across Canada and the world for its vast resources in forestry, mining and hydroelectricity.

[Airline Service in B.C., February 11th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today with good news for northeastern British Columbians.

This afternoon WestJet's new regional air carrier, WestJet Encore, announced the first cities in Canada chosen for scheduled service this June, and British Columbia is the major beneficiary. Beginning in June, Fort St. John will benefit from service to and from Calgary and Vancouver.

Competitive air service is essential to keeping our economy moving and linking our communities and businesses to each other. That is why we worked so hard as a community to bring WestJet Encore to our city.

I have more good news. Passengers will be flying in brand new Bombardier Q400 planes manufactured right here in Canada.

I congratulate WestJet and the people of Fort St. John, as we worked so hard to bring this new service to our area. On behalf of all British Columbia MPs, I thank WestJet Encore and welcome it to beautiful British Columbia.

[Fair Rail Freight Service Act, February 1st, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, the member across the way and I share a common city and we share a common region in northern British Columbia.

He talked about the fact that this legislation is coming, has not been passed yet. He spoke to the importance of the issue and the importance of the issue in the riding, especially to grain farmers and to forestry producers who actually want to ship out product. My brother worked in a mill that literally could not ship out product. It had to shut down its pulp mill, waiting for cars.

Again, because the bill has not been passed yet, I would like the member to emphasize how important it is to get it done.

[Leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada, February 1st, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, just the other day, the NDP leader spoke up in the House about job prospects for Canadian students. Without any sense of irony he called on the government to do more to help make jobs available to them. Of course, our government's priority is job creation and economic prosperity. In fact, the Canadian economy has created more than 900,000 net new jobs since the end of the recession. That is the best record of all G7 countries.

What the NDP leader failed to realize is that while he was calling on us to do more to help make jobs available, his cornerstone policy would kill thousands of jobs and put hardworking Canadians out of work. The NDP leader's $21 billion job-killing carbon tax would raise the price of everything from gas to groceries to electricity. His job-killing carbon tax would stop economic growth and put so many Canadians out of work.

Canadian students deserve better than the NDP leader's $21 billion carbon tax that would kill jobs and economic growth. That is why our government will always stand up against this disastrous NDP policy and continue to stand up for Canadian students.

[Hydroelectric Project, January 31st, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, as the member has said already, this project is important to all Canadians, especially those in Atlantic Canada.

Also, as the member mentioned, from the first Speech from the Throne on our majority Conservative mandate, we will support any clean energy project that is economically viable, substantially lowers GHG emissions and is of regional or national significance, and certainly this project is that.

Can the member please share with the House the expected benefits of this particular project?

[Income Tax Act, December 11th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, as a former member of the BCTF in British Columbia, I can say that this legislation is most welcome to those of us who are both former and current members.

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak to Bill C-377, a private member's bill to amend the Income Tax Act to require labour organizations to publicly disclose their financial information. Before continuing, let me recognize the sponsor of this legislation, our Conservative colleague from British Columbia, the member for South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale. He has done a tremendous amount of work and research on the bill and is to be applauded for his work.

Since his election in 2004, the member for South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale has been very effective in his representation of his constituents and a well-respected parliamentarian. Indeed, that is why his constituents have re-elected him three times in a row and returned him to Ottawa to continue representing them so well. He has also continued the public debate on many issues, including the subject of today's private member's bill, which seeks to require public financial disclosure by organizations that receive substantial public benefits.

Unions play an important role in Canada, representing and defending the rights of workers. Each union represents health and safety in their jobs and ensures appropriate compensation for their members in accordance with negotiated collective agreements. Approximately 4.5 million Canadians currently pay union dues and many more millions have been unionized at one time or another. Labour organizations are influential institutions in Canadian society and the bill reflects the importance of each.

The bill, an act to amend the Income Tax Act (requirements for labour organizations), seeks to increase the transparency and accountability of all labour organizations as a result of the fact that they receive substantial public benefits through the tax system. The principle here is that, like charities, labour organizations receive public money and the public has a right to be informed about how foregone taxpayer dollars are being spent.

Since 1977, registered charities in Canada have been subjected to reporting requirements and public disclosure for over 30 years. This legislation would require every organized labour union in Canada to file a standard set of financial information with the Canada Revenue Agency each year, which would then be posted on its website for the Canadian public to see, just as is the case with charities. I will explain that in more detail in a moment for the benefit and education of the House and for Canadians watching at home. The public will be able to gauge the effectiveness, financial integrity and health of any union they wish. This legislation applies to all labour organizations that claim tax exempt status or whose dues payers receive a federal income tax deduction for their union dues, whether or not they are actual union members.

As promised, I would like to talk about the example of charities for a moment to more fully explain what is already required of them and how this private member's bill follows that example. As such, I will briefly provide the chamber with an overview of the measures currently in place to oversee financial disclosure by charities in relation to today's proposal.

The Canada Revenue Agency, also known as the CRA, has various tools at its disposal to monitor and disclose spending by Canadian charities. At the federal level, the CRA administers a system to registered charities under the Income Tax Act. As the regulator of charities, the CRA's responsibilities include processing applications for registration, offering technical advice on operating a charity, handling audit and compliance activities, and providing general information to the public.

The regulation of the charitable sector by the CRA is based on both common law and the provisions under the Income Tax Act. The common-law requirement that charities devote their resources to charitable activities is central to how the CRA provides guidance to the sector and enforces the rules. For instance, recent legislative and administrative reforms have given the CRA additional compliance tools for use in regulation of the charitable sector, such as intermediate sanctions in the form of taxes or penalties for charities that do not comply with the requirements of the Income Tax Act. Prior to this, the only sanction available to the CRA was the revocation of registered charity status.

At the same time, the concept of undue personal benefit was clarified in the Income Tax Act. As a result, in the case of excessive executive compensation, the CRA has the authority under the Income Tax Act to conduct an investigation to determine whether the charity is indeed fulfilling its charitable purposes. It also has the authority to determine whether there is undue personal benefit and to impose a range of penalties up to and including a suspension of receipting privileges.

There is also more public information available today on the activities of registered charities. This helps increase accountability in the sector by providing prospective donors with the information to determine for themselves whether or not they would like to donate to a particular charity. Under the Income Tax Act, all registered charities are required to complete a registered charity information return, which is published on the Canada Revenue Agency website and includes information about compensation.

What is more, our Conservative government recently made a key change to further improve accountability of charities. Up until 2008, charities were required to report on the compensation for the five highest-paid employees, and indicate their salary range, with the last threshold being $119,000 and over. We changed that. Starting in 2009, charities were required to report the 10 most highly compensated positions. Annual compensation categories were also expanded, with the last threshold being $350,000 and over.

The introduction of this new reporting on employee compensation has served as a key tool to help increase transparency to show how charitable resources are being used, providing Canadians who generously donate their hard-earned money with even more information to help guide their decisions about giving.

One wonders, if charities are required to submit all such information and have it disclosed, should not union members and the Canadian public have the same type of information about organized labour? Many people have asked that question and have suggested it is appropriate.

Gregory Thomas, the federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, had much to say about this issue in an article published in an October issue of The Chronicle Herald newspaper entitled, “Putting unions, charities on same playing field”.

Let me conclude by quoting an important passage from that article that I suggest everyone read.

The Income Tax Act gives tax breaks to Canadians for various purposes. However, there are two major groups in particular that benefit most directly from tax breaks within the act: registered charities and labour unions.

While both groups benefit from taxpayer-aided income tax laws, the way they disclose to the public what they do with the money is very different.....

Charities in Canada receive a pretty decent taxpayer-funded advantage. If you donate money to a registered charity, you get to claim a hefty tax credit when you file your annual return. In return for this favoured tax treatment, charities are required, by law, under the Income Tax Act, to make annual financial filings and disclose their salaries, revenues and expenses. In fact, you can look at every charity’s filing online on the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) website.....

However, despite their tax-advantaged status, Canada’s unions are currently not required to submit any public financial disclosures to the CRA, let alone the public.....

Some unionized workers have spent thousands of dollars, and big chunks of their lives, battling to get a look at their union’s books. In B.C., the United Food and Commercial Workers Union fought these workers in multiple labour relations board and court hearings, in a bid to deny them five years of financial statements. The case raged on for years. When it was finally decided in the Supreme Court of B.C., it came to light that the financial statements for 2002 through to 2007 weren’t even compiled until the end of 2007 and early 2008.

Examples like this go to show that the legislation is long overdue. Canadian workers are entitled to greater fiscal transparency and accountability from their labour unions. It is for that reason that I urge all members to support this important bill, and especially coming from a former BCTF member, I encourage all people in this House to support the bill.

[New Democratic Party of Canada, December 7th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians from my riding of Prince George—Peace River and all other ridings across this country work hard for their money. The last thing they need is to spend more of their money on things such as gasoline. Sadly, this is exactly what the New Democrats intend to do. Thanks to their leader, the New Democrats want to impose a job-killing carbon tax on Canadians, which would increase the price of food, gas, electricity and everything else, including Christmas presents. Such a tax would be a financial burden on Canadian families.

Thankfully, Canadians elected our Conservative government, which will always fight such a tax. Our government will remain focused on jobs and economic growth, which is what matters to Canadians. Thanks to our Conservative government, since July 2009 we have created over 820,000 net new jobs. Thanks to our government, Canadians are getting back to work. Thankfully, once again, our Conservative Party will keep fighting the NDP's risky economic policies.

Further, I wish everyone across Canada, from my family, a very merry Christmas.

[Jobs and Growth Act, 2012, December 3rd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the member briefly tied ridings like my riding of Prince George—Peace River in northeastern B.C. to downtown Toronto and mentioned how those capital markets influence the bottom line in my part of the country.

The member spoke briefly about how important responsible resource development is for places in Canada. It is obvious in places like mine, but could he perhaps tell us how important it is to downtown Toronto?