Bill C-50 (Historical)

Budget Implementation Act, 2008

An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on February 26, 2008 and to enact provisions to preserve the fiscal plan set out in that budget

Part 1 enacts a number of income tax measures proposed in the February 26, 2008 Budget. In particular, it
(a) introduces the new Tax-Free Savings Account, effective for the 2009 and subsequent taxation years;
(b) extends by 10 years the maximum number of years during which a Registered Education Savings Plan may be open and accept contributions and provides a six-month grace period for making educational assistance payments, generally effective for the 2008 and subsequent taxation years;
(c) increases the amount of the Northern Residents Deduction, effective for the 2008 and subsequent taxation years;
(d) extends the application of the Medical Expense Tax Credit to certain devices and expenses and better targets the requirement that eligible medications must require a prescription by an eligible medical practitioner, generally effective for the 2008 and subsequent taxation years;
(e) amends the provisions relating to Registered Disability Savings Plans so that the rule forcing the mandatory collapse of a plan be invoked only where the beneficiary’s condition has factually improved to the extent that the beneficiary no longer qualifies for the disability tax credit, effective for the 2008 and subsequent taxation years;
(f) extends by one year the Mineral Exploration Tax Credit;
(g) extends the capital gains tax exemption for certain gifts of listed securities to also apply in respect of certain exchangeable shares and partnership interests, effective for gifts made on or after February 26, 2008;
(h) adjusts the rate of the Dividend Tax Credit to reflect corporate income tax rate reductions, beginning in 2010;
(i) increases the benefits available under the Scientific Research and Experimental Development Program, generally effective for taxation years that end on or after February 26, 2008;
(j) amends the penalty for failures to remit source deductions when due in order to better reflect the degree to which the remittances are late, and excuses early remittances from the mandatory financial institution remittance rules, effective for remittances due on or after February 26, 2008;
(k) reduces the paper burden associated with dispositions by non-residents of certain treaty-protected property, effective for dispositions that occur after 2008;
(l) ensures that the enhanced tax incentive for Donations of Medicines is properly targeted, effective for gifts made after June, 2008; and
(m) modifies the provincial component of the SIFT tax to better reflect actual provincial tax rates, effective for the 2009 and subsequent taxation years.
Part 1 also implements income tax measures to preserve the fiscal plan as set out in the February 26, 2008 Budget.
Part 2 amends the Excise Act, the Excise Act, 2001 and the Customs Tariff to implement measures aimed at improving tobacco tax enforcement and compliance, adjusting excise duties on tobacco sticks and on tobacco for duty-free markets and equalizing the excise treatment of imitation spirits and other spirits.
Part 3 implements goods and services tax and harmonized sales tax (GST/HST) measures proposed or referenced in the February 26, 2008 Budget. It amends the Excise Tax Act to expand the list of zero-rated medical and assistive devices and to ensure that all supplies of drugs sold to final consumers under prescription are zero-rated. It also amends that Act to exempt all nursing services rendered within a nurse-patient relationship, prescribed health care services ordered by an authorized registered nurse and, if certain conditions are met, a service of training that is specially designed to assist individuals in coping with the effects of their disorder or disability. It further amends that Act to ensure that a variety of professional health services maintain their GST/HST exempt status if those services are rendered by a health professional through a corporation. Additional amendments to that Act clarify the GST/HST treatment of long-term residential care facilities. Those amendments are intended to ensure that the GST New Residential Rental Property Rebate is available, and the GST/HST exempt treatment for residential leases and sales of used residential rental buildings applies, to long-term residential care facilities on a prospective basis and on past transactions if certain circumstances exist. This Part also makes amendments to relieve the GST/HST on most lease payments for land on which wind or solar power equipment used to generate electricity is situated.
Part 4 dissolves the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation, provides for the Foundation to fulfill certain obligations and deposit its remaining assets in the Consolidated Revenue Fund, and repeals Part 1 of the Budget Implementation Act, 1998. It also makes consequential amendments to other Acts.
Part 5 amends the Canada Student Financial Assistance Act and the Canada Student Loans Act to implement measures concerning financial assistance for students, including the following:
(a) authorizing the establishment and operation, by regulation, of electronic systems to allow on-line services to be offered to students;
(b) providing for the establishment and operation, by regulation, of a program to provide for the repayment of student loans for classes of borrowers who are encountering financial difficulties;
(c) allowing part-time students to defer their student loan payments for as long as they continue to be students, and providing, by regulation, for other circumstances in which student loan payments may be deferred; and
(d) allowing the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development to take remedial action if any error is made in the administration of the two Acts and in certain cases, to waive requirements imposed on students to avoid undue hardship to them.
Part 6 amends the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to authorize the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to give instructions with respect to the processing of certain applications and requests in order to support the attainment of the immigration goals established by the Government of Canada.
Part 7 enacts the Canada Employment Insurance Financing Board Act. The mandate of the Board is to set the Employment Insurance premium rate and to manage a financial reserve. That Part also amends the Employment Insurance Act and makes consequential amendments to other Acts.
Part 8 authorizes payments to be made out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund for the recruitment of front line police officers, capital investment in public transit infrastructure and carbon capture and storage. It also authorizes Canada Social Transfer transition protection payments.
Part 9 authorizes payments to be made out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund to Genome Canada, the Mental Health Commission of Canada, The Gairdner Foundation and the University of Calgary.
Part 10 amends various Acts.

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

The former Liberal minister said that simply adding applications to a system that's backlogged is not the answer, and that an answer needed to be found. Unfortunately, over a period of thirteen years, he did very little to address that. Bill C-50 certainly goes in that direction.

When we talk about numbers, Mr. Bevilacqua will take issue with that. When you add the temporary foreign workers we've brought in and the foreign students, the number is approximately 439,000 newcomers to Canada, a number that's greater than any other number over the last 100 years. So we've certainly processed a great number of people in numbers that haven't been seen for a long time.

I agree with your statement that those who have jobs waiting for them are more likely to succeed and immigrate because they have a base to start from. You mentioned briefly the provincial nominee program. That's an opportunity for the provinces to say they need these types of people, as Mr. Telegdi was saying, in a particular area, in a particular region.

Will Bill C-50 recognize the provincial nominee program and what the provinces need for occupations? Will the funding that we have and the work that we do in some way assist or enhance the provincial nominee program?

[Wajid Khan, Conservative, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would also like to take the opportunity to thank the Liberal Party for supporting Bill C-50 in the finance committee. These are the only two parties that can really affect the lives of immigrants. Some critics of the ministry believe the solution is to throw more money at the department--throw more money at the backlog.

I would like you to please address this issue to be absolutely clear why this approach is not feasible--how the 2008 budget assists you in stopping the growth of the backlog and how the legislative changes and the budget allocated to you will help reduce the backlog. What are you doing with the resources and the estimates as a whole to improve Canada's immigration system?

[Andrew Telegdi, Liberal, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

Well, you must have been taking counsel on the point of order. But let me say that the present Prime Minister and the front bench of cabinet have used that term hundreds of times in the previous Parliament.

The other issue I have, Madam Minister, is that you missed the target for this year's landing, at 237,000, even though you bumped up the family class.

The other one is that you created a crisis in the refugee determination system. We have a record backlog. It was something that was previously fixed. We have a backlog of 45,000-plus, and it's going to hit 62,000 this year. This has all happened under your watch. The backlog before the Conservatives assumed office was under 20,000.

Minister, how do you expect us to believe you can tackle something as complicated as Bill C-50 and what you're planning to do when your record is, first, that you missed your target, and second, that you have created a record backlog in the refugee appeal division?

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Haldimand—Norfolk, ON]

Historically, that information has not been kept, but, yes, we have started to enter that now, in terms of their qualifications.

If I might, I'd like to clarify a statement you made, that Bill C-50 is not getting support. In fact, we have had support from a wide range of ethnic community associations, and a wide range of national media have endorsed it—in places where we did not pay for advertising, by the way. And finally, as I understand it, the bill has been forwarded from the finance committee to the House of Commons with the support of the Liberal Party, and it will be going to the Senate soon.

[Andrew Telegdi, Liberal, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

Mr. Chair, I think it really is a problem that the officials don't have the numbers we are referring to. It really puts us at quite a disadvantage for having reasonable discussions.

The point is that there is no real content in these ads. They say, “We the Conservative Party intend to do this”—or the Conservative government—but in no way do they describe how they're going to do it.

Premium prices are being paid for these ads; I checked on this with some media. The government is paying way more than what I would pay if I went to advertise.

It seems to me that what the government is trying to do is to buy editorial support by giving out money for essentially useless ads. The Globe and Mail, in its editorial, referred to the fact that this is a waste of money, and there are other publications that would say the same.

It seems to me, Minister, that Bill C-50 is not flying in spite of the money you are spending on it. It's not flying; it's not getting support.

Since we're talking about that, Minister, and since there is a backlog of 925,000, with 615,000 in the skilled worker category, can you tell me if you or your officials have an inventory as to who exactly is in that backlog of 615,000?

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Welcome, Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Bevilacqua. Thank you for the support for Bill C-50--in committee, going to the House. I know there's been a lot of rhetoric by the Liberal Party, but in the end, they have supported it. Of course, obviously Bill C-50 is the bill that will help deal not only with the backlog but with stopping it from growing.

There's no doubt, Minister, that there are a number of labour shortage needs in our country. Employers need labour and newcomers need jobs. I've had the good fortune of attending some private colleges to extend the off-campus work permit. I've learned that not only are the foreign students pleased, because they can earn some money, but the universities or the private colleges are happy, because they get the students, and the employer is happy, because he has someone to fill a job that's really not fillable in many cases.

I know there are also the temporary foreign workers, as many have said across the country as we've travelled in our hearings, who would like to somehow become permanent residents of our country.

You have mentioned some innovative things we have done, in addition to Bill C-50, and the funding that's been invested in terms of helping them along. Perhaps you could elaborate on what has happened with respect to foreign students. Also, what is happening with respect to the Canadian experience class, and how might that help the labour situation in our country?

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

Thank you.

I have to congratulate you, Madam Minister. You've picked up some friends. At the finance committee yesterday the Liberal MPs agreed with the Conservatives to fast-track Bill C-50, and at the Liberal-dominated Senate, you got it fast-tracked again. We haven't even finished dealing with Bill C-50 here in the House of Commons, and right now, as we speak, the Senate is considering Bill C-50. It's quite amazing that you found these Liberal friends, even though they said they were against the bill. Having said that, I don't know how you managed to do it, but it's quite amazing.

The numbers don't fit. The budget in front of us says the main estimates this year are for $164,860,000 for the immigration program, which is a drop from last year of $18.9 million. In the ads you've been saying it's going to be over $100 million and it's going to deal with the backlog, etc. In your presentation you said there is $8 million for this year. I can't square that number, because what I'm noticing is that the immigration program will have to cope with a significant reduction in financial resources, a cut of 32% over two years. On top of that, I saw that in 2007 there was a decrease of another $2.6 million due to “cost efficiency savings”, so last year there were cuts already, and there are more cuts coming, cuts of 32%.

If there are fewer resources for the immigration department, that goes completely contrary to and in a different direction from what the ad seems to be saying, which is that there will be millions of dollars invested in reducing the backlog. Can you explain that?

[Jim Karygiannis, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

Which practically is Bill C-50, the backlog.... I read your ads in a number of languages. This was targeted towards Bill C-50.

[Diane Finley, Conservative, Haldimand—Norfolk, ON]

Part 6 of Bill C-50 was funded through interim supply.

[Jim Karygiannis, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

My question is this. How much of that transportation and communication cost on page 56 was for advertising done by the department with respect to part 6 of Bill C-50?

[Jim Karygiannis, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

Minister and your deputy, thank you for coming to the committee today.

I noticed that on page 56, under transportation and communication, you have spent $3,245,000. Does this figure include the advertising done by the department with respect to part 6 of Bill C-50?

Finance

[Rob Merrifield, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour and a privilege to present, in both official languages, the eighth report of the Standing Committee on Finance in relation to Bill C-50, An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on February 26, 2008 and to enact provisions to preserve the fiscal plan set out in that budget, without amendment.

I am very proud of the committee and its work and very pleased to present this to the House at this time.

Budget Implementation Act, 2008

[Rahim Jaffer, Conservative, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are surprised to learn the NDP is ready to play political games to prevent the passage of Bill C-50, the budget implementation bill, before the summer recess in June.

In doing so, the NDP is knowingly putting $1.5 billion in important federal funding at risk for Albertans. This includes $53 million over two years through the public transit capital trust and $43 million to Alberta to hire new front line police officers over the next five years. Additionally, it is threatening to delay the landmark tax-free savings account that would allow Canadians to save up to $5,000 every year tax free for life. These tactics prove that the NDP is out of touch with the priorities of Canadians.

I respectfully ask the NDP to let Parliament work, stop playing games and listen to Canadians. I ask the NDP to help pass Bill C-50 before the summer recess so Albertans and Canadians everywhere can benefit from better public transit, safer streets and lower taxes.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Merrifield]

Bill C-50 provides the framework for the setting of an annual premium rate.

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

Yes, I am. Just give me a second; let me just find it. That can count into my five minutes.

Ah, yes, I found it: amendment 3514746. It's for page 98, to amend Bill C-50 in clause 121 by replacing lines 33 and 34 on page 98, which is the “Act...or that the Board is restricted”, by adding after line 38 on page 98, the following:

The Board may, however, make recommendations on matters related to the design, delivery, and policies of the Employment Insurance programs.