Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1  What protection did the government bring forward when it negotiated the IGA, the intergovernmental agreement that allows this FATCA, or Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act? We do not know what it agreed to, because it is pushing it through. It is pushing it through without the scrutiny that belongs in Parliament. What we are seeing is that the government is saying it will be compliant under the Privacy Act, but we see major problems with this.

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1  In fact, I think it betrays cowardice by placing something as profoundly important to Canadians as FATCA on page 99 of a 350-page bill, rather than having that debate out in the open in this House for all Canadians to hear and for us to participate in. With respect to youth, let me take it back to Toronto, where we have an extraordinarily high 18% youth unemployment rate in Toronto.

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1  What Canadian could have imagined the surrender of sovereignty and betrayal of citizenship that is bound up in the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, FATCA, as it is known, buried deep among 500 clauses in over 350 pages? As I just found out from my colleague from Timmins—James Bay, it is on page 99 of a 350-page document. What characterizes this bill as a whole is incoherence.

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1  The protection of the rights of our citizens is a fundamental role of Parliament, yet the government has not talked to the families who are being affected by FATCA. In fact, it has pushed it into page 99 of this bill to slip it through the House of Commons without any proper consultation with the Canadian people. I have been sitting here listening to my hon. colleague, with all of his spin notes that have come down from the PMO.

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1  I am talking about the accord on the infamous Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, better known as FATCA, the American tax law on foreign accounts. A number of people have said that this accord might be inconsistent with Canadian privacy laws and that enforcing this law could be costly. Those costs would be borne by the financial institutions and by the Canada Revenue Agency.

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1  Speaker, can my colleague elaborate on the disastrous long-term consequences of this omnibus budget implementation bill? Over the years, how will this bill, and particularly the change having to do with FATCA, change the principles that are important to us? What impact will this bill have on the laws that protect Canadians' privacy?

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1  The question for my colleague is that if we use that standard, how much of the rest of this omnibus bill would be on solid ground? I am thinking of the FATCA provisions. It seems very clear there has been absolutely no consultation with Canadians who are both American and Canadian citizens. I also wonder whether or not the minister of state might want to talk to her colleague, the Minister of State for Democratic Reform, to suggest that standard of consultation might well have prevented him from getting into trouble, as he is now on Bill C-23.

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1  Mr. Speaker, on the issue of FATCA, there are probably hundreds of thousands of accidental American citizens who will also be found in this great schism of sending their data to the U.S. Those are the children who were born in Canada, who have never lived in the United States, who have never been a United States citizen, who the U.S. is now declaring are United States citizens as a result of their parents having been American.

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1  Speaker, there are all kinds of people who are just discovering that, in fact, they hold dual Canadian-American citizenship; and the member is quite right that even if they have never worked in the United States, the fact that they are American citizens because they hold dual citizenship scoops them into this net of FATCA. My office has been deluged with calls from concerned citizens since this initiative by the U.S. was first announced. We do not believe that the government has effectively protected the interests of Canadians.

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1  Speaker, it is fitting that the member talks about rail safety immediately after the discussion about FATCA. The minister has suggested that the reason for the change is to make it quicker for her to change Canada's rail safety regime, and to change it without consultation and discussion, to harmonize it with the U.S.

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1  Is it because they are afraid of those one million Canadians finding out that they were sold out on FATCA?

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1  I just want to highlight two that are of particular concern to so many of my constituents in Parkdale—High Park, and I am sure members are hearing this across the country. First of all, with the changes around FATCA, a totally new bill is housed within Bill C-31 that would affect so many people who happen to hold Canadian-American citizenship, and is doing so without answering vital questions around privacy and what it would mean to people's private banking information.

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1  I know that the member's riding is close to the United States. One item in particular is important in this bill, and that is FATCA. Many people in his riding who are Canadian citizens and do not consider themselves American could be targeted by the U.S. revenue service, according to which they might owe thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars because the U.S. government sees them as American citizens.

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1  I would like to take that one step further. She talked about the constitutional issues related to FATCA. It is becoming increasingly clear in budget bill after budget bill after budget bill that the Conservative government's process does not include enough preparation. They rush their bills through with very little discussion, and they introduce bills, like the last one, with monumental errors.

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1  Now, let us get to the bad things that are in Bill C-31. Let us start with the first one, FATCA. What a great deal it is that is buried in this bill. One would think that something like a major tax treaty with our most significant trading partner would have stand-alone legislation and its own debate.