Jim Flaherty

[Consumer Protection, October 17th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, in fact, we work with all of those groups and all of those entities, including the credit card issuers, the consumer groups and the retail groups in Canada, to develop the voluntary code of conduct. It is working, and they tell us it is working. I have told them, time and time again, if there is evidence that it is not working, it will no longer be voluntary; it will be mandatory.

[Consumer Protection, October 17th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, well, we protect all Canadian consumers, of course. It is vitally important, through the Financial Consumer Agency, the federal literacy program and the federal financial literacy co-leader, that Canadians have the best information available, which is available not on that particular website, but on the consumer agency website, so that they can inform themselves of what the best rates are to make good decisions for their families.

[Consumer Protection, October 17th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his quiet tone and approach on the subject.

Of course we regulate our banks. All federal financial institutions, and there are more than 400 of them, are regulated, inspected and audited. We brought in the code of conduct with respect to credit cards a long time ago, and it is supported by the Retail Council of Canada and by the consumer groups in Canada.

A great deal has been done. There is more to do, as outlined in the Speech from the Throne.

[Finance, May 28th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, let me thank the hon. member for Edmonton—Leduc for the question. He is an excellent chair of the House of Commons finance committee, which is, in fact, an excellent committee, come to think of it. It does a lot work on budget preparation. A number of the recommendations from the House of Commons finance committee were incorporated in economic action plan 2013.

In terms of economic growth, we have the largest and longest federal infrastructure plan in Canadian history in the budget. We have the Canada job grant initiative, which is very important in matching people with jobs across Canada, and of course, the incentives for manufacturing, which suffered greatly from the great recession. This is contrary to the NDP, which wants to raise taxes, and the Liberals, who have no economic--

[Committees of the House, May 21st, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I listened carefully to the comments of the hon. member opposite, and I must say I agree with him entirely that infrastructure in Canada needs more support, that the municipalities need more support on infrastructure, that we need a much more effective jobs training program and that our manufacturers need assistance.

Since we are doing all of these things, and in fact they are major points of the economic action plan 2013, I ask the member opposite whether will he vote his conscience in support of the budget bill.

[The Budget, May 7th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Mississauga East—Cooksville for the question. I also ask why the NDP and Liberal MPs plan to vote against Bill C-60, the first step in implementing the economic action plan, 2013.

I am deeply disappointed that they would oppose job-creating measures to help manufacturers while denying support for vulnerable Canadians in the form of palliative care, veterans disability benefits and library services for the blind. I call on the NDP and Liberal members to—

[Taxation, May 6th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, health care services, including health care services relating to mental illness, have always been exempt from GST, and they will continue to be exempt from GST. The difference is with respect to services and examinations that are not performed for health reasons, and they will be subject to GST.

[Taxation, May 6th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, to be accurate, credit unions still have access to the lower small-business tax rate. That has not changed.

We are eliminating an outdated tax subsidy from the 1970s, when the tax system was very different.

No other small businesses receive that special tax subsidy. Other governments have moved it forward before and eliminated that tax subsidy. The federal government is doing so now.

[Taxation, May 2nd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, our Conservative government believes in lower taxes. We have shown that by cutting over 150 taxes for the people of Ontario since 2006. We also believe in keeping agreements.

There is a long-standing agreement between the Government of Ontario and the Government of Canada on this issue. We are not going to abrogate that agreement so the Wynne government can hike taxes again on businesses that create jobs in Ontario.

[Taxation, May 2nd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite asks about many things. It generally seems to be questions about the economy.

I am sure he is mindful of the fact that earlier this week Statistics Canada announced that Canada's economy grew by 0.3% in January and February, surpassing analysts' expectations.

With respect to small business, we have long recognized the importance of small business in Canada. That is why, since 2006, we have lowered their tax bill, reducing the small business tax rate from 12% to 11%, which the NDP voted against, increasing the amount of income eligible for the lower small business tax rate from $300,000—