Joe Oliver

[Business of Supply, May 25th, 2015]

Mr. Chair, I will get that information for the member.

[Business of Supply, May 25th, 2015]

Mr. Chair, both prior to this economic action plan 2015 and through our current budget, we have provided a suite of proposals and initiatives that would enhance job creation right across the country for small businesses and for large businesses. For small businesses, we are reducing the tax rate from 11% to 9% and we have introduced an accelerated capital cost allowance.

[Business of Supply, May 25th, 2015]

Mr. Chair, we have spent a lot of time talking about tax-free savings accounts, and it seems that we have not been able to penetrate the opposition members, who are focused on a misunderstanding of the central fact that TFSAs overwhelmingly benefit low and middle-income Canadians. Two-thirds of the benefits go to them, and 25% to families earning less than $30,000 a year.

The TFSA is a marvellous tool to save for a first home, for the kids' education, or for retirement. Of the 11 million Canadians who participate, three-quarters of them earn less than $75,000 a year, half of them earn less than $42,000 a year, and 60% of those who have maxed out earn less than $60,000 a year. This is a very important measure for low and middle-income Canadians and, of course, for seniors. This is part of our government's plan to create jobs, growth, and long-term prosperity.

Since we have spent so much time discussing the TFSAs, perhaps I could move on to the broader discussion of Canada's economy.

Through Canada's economic action plan, our country's economy has seen one of the best economic performances among all G7 countries, as we have said many times. However, Canada is not immune to global economic challenges beyond our borders. That is why economic action plan 2015 continues to focus on supporting job creation and economic growth, while returning Canada to balance.

When one reflects on some of the questions, it is really rich for the NDP and the Liberals to be criticizing our government's savings record and our record on the economy and job creation. They voted against every job creation measure our government has put forward, including introducing the small business job credit, introducing the largest and longest investment in job-creating infrastructure in Canada's history, including the new Building Canada fund; and introducing tax cuts for manufacturers to purchase new equipment and expand their operations.

The NDP continues to push for risky economic policies, including a $20 billion carbon tax that would be a tax on everything and everybody and would hurt Canada's economy.

Meanwhile, the Liberals have introduced a plan full of holes that would return Canada to deficits and jeopardize our strong economic position. In fact, the Liberal leader's plan simply does not add up. He already admits to a $2 billion shortage. We have discovered an additional $1 billion in his rudimentary miscalculation of the cancellation of the UCC benefit, and of course he has wildly overestimated the amount of tax he would collect through his tax hike. In addition to that, there are more high-cost spending programs to come. The question is, where will he get the money? Will it come from piling on more debt? Will it come from increasing taxes? Will it come from cancelling important programs, such as income splitting for seniors or increased funding to the brave men and women in uniform? We do not know, and we suspect the Liberal leader does not know either.

We can contrast all that with our low-tax plan. On the other side, the Liberal leader thinks that Canadians should be convinced to accept a tax hike, believes that budgets balance themselves, and does not think we should provide benefits to all Canadian families.

From July 2009 to April 2015, our government created 1.2 million jobs. More than 80% of these jobs are full-time, more than 80% are in the private sector and nearly 60% are in high-wage sectors. Since our government came to power, we have created almost 20% more jobs than our closest competitor. Canada posted the strongest business investment record in the G7 during the recovery.

Both the International Monetary Fund and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development expect Canada to show solid economic growth in the coming years. For the seventh consecutive year, the World Economic Forum rated Canada's banking system as the soundest in the world. Canada leapt from sixth to second place in Bloomberg's ranking of the most attractive destinations for business.

[Business of Supply, May 25th, 2015]

Mr. Chair, as I have said, the family benefit program overwhelmingly would benefit low and middle-income Canadians. Two-thirds of the benefits would go to them, and 25% would go to families earning less than $30,000 a year. It is expected that families will save on average $1,140 per year from this package. Thanks to measures introduced by our government, the average Canadian family currently will receive up to $6,600 this year.

[Business of Supply, May 25th, 2015]

Mr. Chair, our Conservative government has fulfilled its commitment to end the wasteful and inefficient long gun registry once and for all. It is a $2 million Liberal plan that ballooned to a $2 billion boondoggle. It is still possible to access outdated copies of the long gun registry through access to information legislation. The will of Parliament was made clear and all copies of the registry were to be destroyed. This technical amendment would address this issue.

[Business of Supply, May 25th, 2015]

Mr. Chair, yes they were.

[Business of Supply, May 25th, 2015]

Mr. Chair, we saved over 52,000 jobs. We saved the automotive sector and we did that because we believe in manufacturing. There is no relationship between the sale of the minority shares and GM's operational decisions.

We continue to support the industry, including providing up to $100 million over five years to support product development and technology demonstration by automotive parts suppliers through the automotive supplier innovation program.

[Business of Supply, May 25th, 2015]

Mr. Chair, there are so many errors in that statement that one does not know where to begin. First, we did not sell it at a loss; we sold it at a profit. The fact that we sold it had absolutely nothing to do with what the automotive company did or would have done. It is frankly quite naive of the member opposite to think otherwise.

[Business of Supply, May 25th, 2015]

Mr. Chair, we always look to see whether there is unfairness in the tax system. We do not see an issue at this point. We are focusing on the benefits TFSAs can provide to seniors and to low and middle-income Canadians to save for a down payment on a home, or for education for their kids and for retirement.

[Business of Supply, May 25th, 2015]

Mr. Chair, we have discussed TFSAs at length. They are clearly a benefit overwhelmingly for low- and middle-income Canadians. Half of TFSA holders earn less than $42,000 a year.

NDP Premier Greg Salinger says that the TSFAs should be especially helpful in encouraging low-income Manitobans to save.

I do not know why the NDP is so intent on taking away this important savings measure from lower-income Canadians.