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Revenue Canada October 6th, 1997
Mr. Speaker, if that is so, why did the minister deny the allegations made at that hearing? He has already gone against the very principles of the quasi-judicial body he is talking about.
Will the minister step outside the House and apologize to Mr. Coffey for calling him a liar, for calling into question the integrity of this 25 year veteran of the department?
Why does he not investigate these allegations independent of the commission that is looking at his affidavit?
Revenue Canada October 6th, 1997
Mr. Speaker, at a press conference this morning Dennis Coffey, a 25 year veteran of Revenue Canada, repeated his allegations of serious fraud, nepotism and abuse on the part of senior Revenue Canada officials. Department lawyers have tried to muzzle Mr. Coffey and the minister has attacked his integrity, dismissing out of hand his allegations.
When the minister said in the House that Mr. Coffey's allegations were not true, he must have had evidence to back up that assertion. Where is that evidence? Will he table it in the House today?
National Revenue October 3rd, 1997
Mr. Speaker, these are publicly made allegations, publicly reported in the newspapers about fraud, corruption, nepotism and abuse in the department. Surely the government takes that seriously enough to investigate those independent of the appeal happening.
Does the parliamentary secretary deny we have learned that Mr. Coffey has alleged that Marvin Goodman, a senior customs manager, authorized the use of a government office at 1 Front Street in Toronto for his sister to run a dress shop rent free.
What does the government think of this? Does it think it is appropriate for government officials to be using government office space for the personal financial benefit of members of their families?
National Revenue October 3rd, 1997
Mr. Speaker, yesterday I tabled an affidavit by Mr. Dennis Coffey, a 25-year customs investigator, in which he confirmed allegations of fraud, nepotism and abuse in the Department of National Revenue. The minister has repeatedly denied these allegations. He must have some pretty compelling evidence to offhandedly dismiss Mr. Coffey's claims.
Has the government conducted an investigation into these troubling allegations, what evidence does it have if any, and will it table such evidence in the House today?
Speech From The Throne October 2nd, 1997
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member for Etobicoke North mentioned that he is in favour of tax incentives. It is a marvellous idea. It is one that the Liberal government tried in the 1970s to generate economic growth. Instead what it did was it helped to create a $600 billion debt and stagnant unemployment today.
Instead of tax incentives, why does the member not encourage his government to give Canadians tax relief? Instead of picking winners and losers in the economy, why does the member not encourage his government to let Canadians decide what to do with their own money?
Does this minister believe that Canadian taxpayers, small business people and homemakers know better how to spend an extra dollar than do the Liberal politicians and bureaucrats?
Speech From The Throne October 2nd, 1997
Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate the minister on his remarks. This minister is a very accomplished and distinguished minister who has set a tone of constructiveness in his government. While I disagree with much of what he said, I believe that he is a constructive force for federalism in this country and I commend him on that.
This minister does talk a great deal about children and families, which is nice to hear. Liberals do like to talk about those issues but the unfortunate thing is they do not like to act very much on them. In particular, this minister talked about the child tax credit, a commendable albeit very modest effort on the part of this government.
I would like to ask this minister if he thinks it would not be a laudable public policy for the government to pursue tax fairness for families, that is to say to remove the intrinsic penalty that exists in the current code against single income families, families that choose to keep one parent at home to raise their children. There are millions of such Canadian families penalized by the fact that the child care deduction is limited to double income families.
Would the minister support measures such as converting the child care deduction into a refundable credit available to all families? Would he also agree in principle to raising the basic spousal exemption in the tax code to a level equivalent to the basic personal exemption so that stay at home parents are no longer penalized by this government's tax code?
Speech From The Throne October 2nd, 1997
They pay more than their fair share.
Points Of Order October 2nd, 1997
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Yesterday in the House the Minister of National Revenue challenged me during question period at page 330 of Hansard to produce in the House facts and table them here regarding the question I asked both yesterday and today. He repeated that request today.
Therefore I seek the unanimous leave of the House to table a sworn affidavit from senior customs officer Dennis Coffey with respect to his appeal to the Public Service Employment Commission Appeal Board which substantiates the allegations which he has made.
Customs October 2nd, 1997
Mr. Speaker, I offered just a moment ago to table a sworn affidavit from a 25-year veteran of this minister's department.
That is evidence introduced before a quasi-judicial body of the government. One of the minister's top customs officers has threatened to muzzle and fire this officer of the minister's department for making these allegations.
Is that how the minister treats employees who try to expose fraud, waste and corruption in his department?
Customs October 2nd, 1997
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister of National Revenue dismissed allegations made by a 25-year customs official, Dennis Coffey, allegations of fraud, nepotism and abuse rampant in the Department of National Revenue.
Today we have obtained a sworn affidavit from Mr. Coffey which I am prepared to table in the House confirming his allegations and contradicting the minister.
Given that Revenue Canada has not denied Mr. Coffey's allegations, is the minister prepared to investigate this matter and if not, why not?