Taxation  We share this concern and raised this issue directly with the U.S. government. We have also been very clear: any penalties imposed by the IRS under FBAR will not be collected by Canada. As such, we have called, and will continue to call, on the U.S. government to look upon them with leniency. We are also happy to report some progress as the IRS has released a statement that says: The IRS recognizes that many Canadians face complex tax situations because of dual citizenship-- It goes on to say: Recent publicity about the issue has spotlighted a number of areas that the IRS will consider in our continuing effort to strike the rig2ht balance in administering the U.S. tax laws.

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I rise today with a petition from Canadians from across the country. It is important for the government to know that this particular issue affects a large number of people. The petition is with regard to the United States Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act .

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1  Does the Minister of State for Finance believe that this would be consistent with the intentions of those programs and that it would be appropriate for the Canadian taxpayer to be funnelling money to the IRS and the U.S. treasury? Second, has the government calculated how much money would be going to the IRS from the Canadian treasury as a result of FATCA and the provisions of this bill?

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1  The NDP said that was a good line to connect, that taxpayers would support that idea. Lo and behold, even the Conservatives supported it. It was the small business hiring tax credit, which half a million small businesses supported and applied to.

Points of Order  In response to these concerns, the Government of Canada successfully negotiated an intergovernmental agreement with the U.S. which contains significant exemptions and other relief. Under the approach in the Canada-U.S. agreement, which was signed on February 5, 2014, Canadian financial institutions will report to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) information in respect of U.S. persons that will be transmitted by the CRA to the IRS under the Canada-U.S. tax treaty and be subject to its confidentiality safeguards....

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1  One of the concerns that we have is that registered programs, for instance registered disability savings plans and registered education savings plans, these types of programs into which the Canadian government contributes matching grants to the investments made by Canadian citizens and taxpayers, those matching grants, we were told at committee and it was confirmed, will actually be considered taxable income by the IRS.

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1  Now that the Government of Canada is going to collect this information and pass it on to the IRS, has it estimated the cost to the Canadian taxpayer of collecting all this data on behalf of the IRS?

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1  Speaker, as my colleague from the finance committee has confirmed, earnings based on the matching grants provided by the government will be taxable income under the IRS. It is absolutely perverse that the Canadian government is putting in these funds to benefit Canadian families. Ultimately, earnings on these funds, these matching grants, will be funnelled through to the IRS and the U.S.

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1  We might ask why, when it is a Conservative budget bill, the Conservatives would want to shut down debate on it. Here is one of the reasons: the foreign account tax compliance act, which is something that has been protested by a million Canadians of American origin in this country, Canadians upon whom penalties are being imposed unilaterally by the IRS.

Finance committee  Again, no registration or reporting is required. We submit that there should be alignment in the application of the rules. Canadian portfolio managers and their clients are being disadvantaged unnecessarily by the approach taken in Canada. Ultimately, Canadian investors will be at risk of over-reporting on their accounts, as their accounts will now be scrutinized and reported on to the CRA by both portfolio managers and custodians.

Agriculture committee  CHC was integral to the establishment of the Pest Management Centre, and the CHC office was previously recognized as IR-4 North as Canadian trials were coordinated with the U.S. IR-4. CHC also developed and established the CanadaGAP food safety program for fruit and vegetables grown in Canada, which was the first food safety program in Canada benchmarked to the global food safety initiative.

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1  Why institute a tax treaty to go after tax cheats and tax havens that do not exist? Why forego the privacy of so many Canadians? What fight did the Conservatives actually do? The Minister of Finance wrote an op-ed.

Finance committee  This would have required banks to report information directly to the IRS and potentially deny basic banking services to clients. Furthermore, the banks and their clients would have been subjected to a 30% withholding tax. So, without the agreement in place—

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1  I do not understand. This is part of the Conservatives' philosophy. They have no interest in the privacy of Canadian taxpayers. Their philosophy is to move forward, regardless of the situation and without regard for people's privacy. That is not right. We need to put a stop to that. We must remove the amendment to section 28 from this bill because it puts at risk Canadian taxpayers who are in this type of situation.

Canada-U.S. Relations  It could well include Canadian citizens who are not dual citizens. It could include the children of former U.S. citizens. It casts a wide net and it reports on the private information of Canadians without their knowledge through to the IRS, and it is not sufficiently reciprocal.