Bill C-45 (Historical)

Jobs and Growth Act, 2012

A second Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 29, 2012 and other measures

Part 1 implements certain income tax measures and related measures proposed in the March 29, 2012 budget. Most notably, it
(a) amends the rules relating to Registered Disability Savings Plans (RDSPs) by
(i) replacing the 10-year repayment rule applying to withdrawals with a proportional repayment rule,
(ii) allowing investment income earned in a Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) to be transferred on a tax-free basis to the RESP beneficiary’s RDSP,
(iii) extending the period that RDSPs of beneficiaries who cease to qualify for the Disability Tax Credit may remain open in certain circumstances,
(iv) amending the rules relating to maximum and minimum withdrawals, and
(v) amending certain RDSP administrative rules;
(b) includes an employer’s contributions to a group sickness or accident insurance plan in an employee’s income in certain circumstances;
(c) amends the rules applicable to retirement compensation arrangements;
(d) amends the rules applicable to Employees Profit Sharing Plans;
(e) expands the eligibility for the accelerated capital cost allowance for clean energy generation equipment to include a broader range of bioenergy equipment;
(f) phases out the Corporate Mineral Exploration and Development Tax Credit;
(g) phases out the Atlantic Investment Tax Credit for activities related to the oil and gas and mining sectors;
(h) provides that qualified property for the purposes of the Atlantic Investment Tax Credit will include certain electricity generation equipment and clean energy generation equipment used primarily in an eligible activity;
(i) amends the Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) investment tax credit by
(i) reducing the general SR&ED investment tax credit rate from 20% to 15%,
(ii) reducing the prescribed proxy amount, which taxpayers use to claim SR&ED overhead expenditures, from 65% to 55% of the salaries and wages of employees who are engaged in SR&ED activities,
(iii) removing the profit element from arm’s length third-party contracts for the purpose of the calculation of SR&ED tax credits, and
(iv) removing capital from the base of eligible expenditures for the purpose of the calculation of SR&ED tax incentives;
(j) introduces rules to prevent the avoidance of corporate income tax through the use of partnerships to convert income gains into capital gains;
(k) clarifies that transfer pricing secondary adjustments are treated as dividends for the purposes of withholding tax imposed under Part XIII of the Income Tax Act;
(l) amends the thin capitalization rules by
(i) reducing the debt-to-equity ratio from 2:1 to 1.5:1,
(ii) extending the scope of the thin capitalization rules to debts of partnerships of which a Canadian-resident corporation is a member,
(iii) treating disallowed interest expense under the thin capitalization rules as dividends for the purposes of withholding tax imposed under Part XIII of the Income Tax Act, and
(iv) preventing double taxation in certain circumstances when a Canadian resident corporation borrows money from its controlled foreign affiliate;
(m) imposes, in certain circumstances, withholding tax under Part XIII of the Income Tax Act when a foreign-based multinational corporation transfers a foreign affiliate to its Canadian subsidiary, while preserving the ability of the Canadian subsidiary to undertake expansion of its Canadian business; and
(n) phases out the Overseas Employment Tax Credit.
Part 1 also implements other selected income tax measures. Most notably, it introduces tax rules to accommodate Pooled Registered Pension Plans and provides that income received from a retirement compensation arrangement is eligible for pension income splitting in certain circumstances.
Part 2 amends the Excise Tax Act and the Jobs and Economic Growth Act to implement rules applicable to the financial services sector in respect of the goods and services tax and harmonized sales tax (GST/HST). They include rules that allow certain financial institutions to obtain pre-approval from the Minister of National Revenue of methods used to determine their liability in respect of the provincial component of the HST, that require certain financial institutions to have fiscal years that are calendar years, that require group registration of financial institutions in certain cases and that provide for changes to a rebate of the provincial component of the HST to certain financial institutions that render services to clients that are outside the HST provinces. This Part also confirms the authority under which certain GST/HST regulations relating to financial institutions are made.
Part 3 amends the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act to provide the legislative authority to share with provinces and territories taxes in respect of specified investment flow-through (SIFT) entities — trusts or partnerships — under section 122.1 and Part IX.1 of the Income Tax Act, consistent with the federal government’s proposal on the introduction of those taxes. It also provides the legislative authority to share with provinces and territories the tax on excess EPSP amounts imposed under Part XI.4 of the Income Tax Act, consistent with the measures proposed in the March 29, 2012 budget. It also allows the Minister of Finance to request from the Minister of National Revenue information that is necessary for the administration of the sharing of taxes with the provinces and territories.
Part 4 enacts and amends several Acts in order to implement various measures.
Division 1 of Part 4 amends the Trust and Loan Companies Act, the Bank Act, the Insurance Companies Act and the Jobs and Economic Growth Act as a result of amendments introduced in the Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act to allow certain public sector investment pools to directly invest in a federally regulated financial institution.
Division 2 of Part 4 amends the Canada Shipping Act, 2001 to permit the incorporation by reference into regulations of all Canadian modifications to an international convention or industry standard that are also incorporated by reference into the regulations, by means of a mechanism similar to that used by many other maritime nations. It also provides for third parties acting on the Minister of Transport’s behalf to set fees for certain services that they provide in accordance with an agreement with that Minister.
Division 3 of Part 4 amends the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation Act to, among other things, provide for a limited, automatic stay in respect of certain eligible financial contracts when a bridge institution is established. It also amends the Payment Clearing and Settlement Act to facilitate central clearing of standardized over-the-counter derivatives.
Division 4 of Part 4 amends the Fisheries Act to amend the prohibition against obstructing the passage of fish and to provide that certain amounts are to be paid into the Environmental Damages Fund. It also amends the Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act to amend the definition of Aboriginal fishery and another prohibition relating to the passage of fish. Finally, it provides transitional provisions relating to authorizations issued under the Fisheries Act before certain amendments to that Act come into force.
Division 5 of Part 4 enacts the Bridge To Strengthen Trade Act, which excludes the application of certain Acts to the construction of a bridge that spans the Detroit River and other works and to their initial operator. That Act also establishes ancillary measures. It also amends the International Bridges and Tunnels Act.
Division 6 of Part 4 amends Schedule I to the Bretton Woods and Related Agreements Act to reflect changes made to the Articles of Agreement of the International Monetary Fund as a result of the 2010 Quota and Governance Reforms. The amendments pertain to the rules and regulations of the Fund’s Executive Board and complete the updating of that Act to reflect those reforms.
Division 7 of Part 4 amends the Canada Pension Plan to implement the results of the 2010-12 triennial review, most notably, to clarify that contributions for certain benefits must be made during the contributory period, to clarify how certain deductions are to be determined for the purpose of calculating average monthly pensionable earnings, to determine the minimum qualifying period for certain late applicants for a disability pension and to enhance the authority of the Review Tribunal and the Pension Appeals Board. It also amends the Department of Human Resources and Skills Development Act to enhance the authority of the Social Security Tribunal.
Division 8 of Part 4 amends the Indian Act to modify the voting and approval procedures in relation to proposed land designations.
Division 9 of Part 4 amends the Judges Act to implement the Government of Canada’s response to the report of the fourth Judicial Compensation and Benefits Commission regarding salary and benefits for federally appointed judges. It also amends that Act to shorten the period in which the Government of Canada must respond to a report of the Commission.
Division 10 of Part 4 amends the Canada Labour Code to
(a) simplify the calculation of holiday pay;
(b) set out the timelines for making certain complaints under Part III of that Act and the circumstances in which an inspector may suspend or reject such complaints;
(c) set limits on the period that may be covered by payment orders; and
(d) provide for a review mechanism for payment orders and notices of unfounded complaint.
Division 11 of Part 4 amends the Merchant Seamen Compensation Act to transfer the powers and duties of the Merchant Seamen Compensation Board to the Minister of Labour and to repeal provisions that are related to the Board. It also makes consequential amendments to other Acts.
Division 12 of Part 4 amends the Customs Act to strengthen and streamline procedures related to arrivals in Canada, to clarify the obligations of owners or operators of international transport installations to maintain port of entry facilities and to allow the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness to require prescribed information about any person who is or is expected to be on board a conveyance.
Division 13 of Part 4 amends the Hazardous Materials Information Review Act to transfer the powers and functions of the Hazardous Materials Information Review Commission to the Minister of Health and to repeal provisions of that Act that are related to the Commission. It also makes consequential amendments to other Acts.
Division 14 of Part 4 amends the Agreement on Internal Trade Implementation Act to reflect changes made to Chapter 17 of the Agreement on Internal Trade. It provides primarily for the enforceability of orders to pay tariff costs and monetary penalties made under Chapter 17. It also repeals subsection 28(3) of the Crown Liability and Proceedings Act.
Division 15 of Part 4 amends the Employment Insurance Act to provide a temporary measure to refund a portion of employer premiums for small businesses. An employer whose premiums were $10,000 or less in 2011 will be refunded the increase in 2012 premiums over those paid in 2011, to a maximum of $1,000.
Division 16 of Part 4 amends the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to provide for an electronic travel authorization and to provide that the User Fees Act does not apply to a fee for the provision of services in relation to an application for an electronic travel authorization.
Division 17 of Part 4 amends the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation Act to remove the age limit for persons from outside the federal public administration being appointed or continuing as President or as a director of the Corporation.
Division 18 of Part 4 amends the Navigable Waters Protection Act to limit that Act’s application to works in certain navigable waters that are set out in its schedule. It also amends that Act so that it can be deemed to apply to certain works in other navigable waters, with the approval of the Minister of Transport. In particular, it amends that Act to provide for an assessment process for certain works and to provide that works that are assessed as likely to substantially interfere with navigation require the Minister’s approval. It also amends that Act to provide for administrative monetary penalties and additional offences. Finally, it makes consequential and related amendments to other Acts.
Division 19 of Part 4 amends the Canada Grain Act to
(a) combine terminal elevators and transfer elevators into a single class of elevators called terminal elevators;
(b) replace the requirement that the operator of a licensed terminal elevator receiving grain cause that grain to be officially weighed and officially inspected by a requirement that the operator either weigh and inspect that grain or cause that grain to be weighed and inspected by a third party;
(c) provide for recourse if an operator does not weigh or inspect the grain, or cause it to be weighed or inspected;
(d) repeal the grain appeal tribunals;
(e) repeal the requirement for weigh-overs; and
(f) provide the Canadian Grain Commission with the power to make regulations or orders with respect to weighing and inspecting grain and the security that is to be obtained and maintained by licensees.
It also amends An Act to amend the Canada Grain Act and the Agriculture and Agri-Food Administrative Monetary Penalties Act and to Repeal the Grain Futures Act as well as other Acts, and includes transitional provisions.
Division 20 of Part 4 amends the International Interests in Mobile Equipment (aircraft equipment) Act and other Acts to modify the manner in which certain international obligations are implemented.
Division 21 of Part 4 makes technical amendments to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012 and amends one of its transitional provisions to make that Act applicable to designated projects, as defined in that Act, for which an environmental assessment would have been required under the former Act.
Division 22 of Part 4 provides for the temporary suspension of the Canada Employment Insurance Financing Board Act and the dissolution of the Canada Employment Insurance Financing Board. Consequently, it enacts an interim Employment Insurance premium rate-setting regime under the Employment Insurance Act and makes amendments to the Canada Employment Insurance Financing Board Act, the Department of Human Resources and Skills Development Act, the Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act and Schedule III to the Financial Administration Act.
Division 23 of Part 4 amends the Canadian Forces Superannuation Act, the Public Service Superannuation Act and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Superannuation Act and makes consequential amendments to other Acts.
The Canadian Forces Superannuation Act is amended to change the limitations that apply in respect of the contribution rates at which contributors are required to pay as a result of amendments to the Public Service Superannuation Act.
The Public Service Superannuation Act is amended to provide that contributors pay no more than 50% of the current service cost of the pension plan. In addition, the pensionable age is raised from 60 to 65 in relation to persons who become contributors on or after January 1, 2013.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police Superannuation Act is amended to change the limitations that apply in respect of the contribution rates at which contributors are required to pay as a result of amendments to the Public Service Superannuation Act.
Division 24 of Part 4 amends the Canada Revenue Agency Act to make section 112 of the Public Service Labour Relations Act applicable to the Canada Revenue Agency. That section makes entering into a collective agreement subject to the Governor in Council’s approval. The Division also amends the Canada Revenue Agency Act to require that the Agency have its negotiating mandate approved by the President of the Treasury Board and to require that it consult the President of the Treasury Board before determining certain other terms and conditions of employment for its employees.

Jobs and Growth Act, 2012

[Patrick Brown, Conservative, Barrie, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am glad the member brought up the importance of our lakes because it was not just Lake Simcoe in whose cleanup the government invested funds; it was Lake Winnipeg. I am sure the member knows that our Prime Minister was in Manitoba on August 2 to make that profound commitment to Lake Winnipeg. I note that never in our history have we seen a federal government invest so much in cleaning up our lakes.

When the Liberals were in power, the party to which the member belongs, they completely declined to make any efforts to clean up Lake Winnipeg, and it was a shame. We saw Lake Winnipeg unfortunately reach its worst state because of their complete lack of interest in its health. It took a Conservative government and a Conservative Prime Minister to finally invest in cleaning up Lake Simcoe and Lake Winnipeg. If the member opposite is truly committed to supporting the cleanup of Lake Winnipeg, I would think he would support this budget wholeheartedly.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, on that point, I can assure the member, whether by the Liberal federal-national administrations or other political parties at the provincial level, that there have been attempts in the past to improve the quality of our lakes. In good part, they have been very successful in doing that, but there is always room for improvement. What is clear, specifically with respect to this budget, is the government has deemed it necessary to get rid of the ELA, which will have a profound impact on the quality of freshwater going forward. It is most unfortunate that the member does not recognize that cut.

Generally speaking, it is great to speak on Bill C-45, which is unique legislation, a bill which ultimately is a cheap shot at democracy. Sometimes we take things for granted. Bill C-45, taken into consideration with its twin budget bill, which was brought in just prior to the summer break, is an insult to the House in terms of its attempt to make so many changes to legislation through the back door of a budget bill. Unfortunately, this is something that is not unique. The Conservative government has tried to bring in amendments through the back door of budget legislation for the last couple of years. However, with respect to an assault on parliamentary processes, this is by far the worst in the history of the House of Commons.

I found it interesting when the member for Wascana provided members this statement from 1994 made by our current Prime Minister when the Chrétien government had brought in a bill that was only 21 pages, compared to hundreds of pages, and dealt with only three or four items rather than dozens of items.

In 1994, with respect to the then prime minister, the current Prime Minister stated:

We can agree with some of the measures but oppose others. How do we express our views and the views of our constituents when the matters are so diverse? Dividing the bill into several components would allow members to represent views of their constituents on each of the different components in the bill.

The current Prime Minister saw that as an assault on democracy and, in essence, challenged the then prime minister to break down that 21 page bill. Where is the Prime Minister today and how far has his opinions changed? Bringing in so many pieces of legislation through the back door of a budget is just wrong.

I would argue that even though many might say that this is somewhat of a boring issue, going into the next election Canadians will be reminded of how the government tried to bring forward a complete legislative agenda through the back door of a budget debate. We should be talking about is the bigger picture of budgets.

We saw surpluses in past government budgets, such as those of Paul Martin or Jean Chrétien. The current government inherited a surplus and turned it into a deficit situation.

With respect to equalization payments, there was a commitment made by the Liberal administrations to enhance and give what was necessary to ensure equality through equalization and transfer payments, including health transfers. In the previous decade, more money was provided to health transfers and equalization payments in the years of the Liberal administration than ever before. The health care accord, achieved by the Liberal administration, ultimately seized the number of dollars that we see going toward health care today.

The government of today tries to take credit for those health care transfers, but it was a Liberal administration that came up with the formula. It was a Liberal administration that got rid of the old tax credit formula that ultimately guaranteed the ongoing financial security of health care transfers well into the future. Those are the types of ideas that Liberal administrations have brought forward.

The Conservatives, on the other hand, have been lacking in ideas and initiatives. In spending billions of dollars, they have been able to identify some things that they can do. In spending that type of money, there will be some good things. However, it is the bigger picture at which we need to look.

Let us look at that bigger picture of the budget. I know the government wants us to focus on the budget. What is the government really doing? It is decreasing services. For people who are on employment insurance and who try to talk to a live person, good luck. For people who are trying to deal with immigration issues and want to talk to a live person, good luck. It is just not going to happen. It is difficult.

The government has cut back on thousands and thousands of civil servant jobs. Those jobs provide real live services to Canadians. On the other hand, the government finds it quite okay to increase the number of members of Parliament. It is saying that we need fewer civil servants and more politicians.

On that point, the Conservatives have the support of the New Democrats. The New Democrats also want to see more politicians inside the House of Commons. If they tuned in to what Canadians really want, it is quality service from the civil service. It is difficult to achieve that when the government is cutting thousands of jobs. What Canadians do not want to see is what the Conservatives and the NDP want, more politicians. That is what I mean about bad priorities.

There is a need for us to recognize that jobs are important. Shortly after the last federal election, the leader of the Liberal Party said that the three most important issues facing us were jobs, jobs and jobs. Jobs are important. It is through jobs and employment that we can generate wealth and assist more people out of economic disparity.

Canadians expect the government to do things in regard to jobs. Manitoba has been fairly hard hit. Good quality jobs are what Canadians want. The aerospace industry is very important to my home province and to other provinces. When Air Canada got rid of its overall maintenance, first by bringing it over to Aveos and then Aveos disposing of it, where was the Government of Canada? Where was the Prime Minister?

In the Air Canada Public Participation Act, those jobs were guaranteed to Manitoba. Manitoba had a legislative guarantee to keep those good, quality jobs. The government did nothing.

The bottom line is that jobs are important and the government has dropped the ball in creating good, quality jobs.

Crime prevention is important to the residents of Winnipeg North and to all Canadians. The government can talk a lot about getting tough on crime. Some would ultimately suggest it has been dumb on crime. What we really need is to get smart on crime and prevent crimes. We need programs that will prevent crimes from happening. We are not seeing that sort of development.

We want to look at health care and the important role the government needs to play in providing strong, national leadership on health care. That has been lacking. We need a new health care accord that will guarantee it well into the future.

[Steven Fletcher, Conservative, Minister of State (Transport)]

Mr. Speaker, as we sit kitty-corner in the chamber, without any listening device, I could hear the member for Winnipeg North very well. I appreciate his passion, but it is misdirected.

I want to focus on a comment the member made about representation in the House of Commons.

We have a system where the House of Commons is a representation by population as much as possible. The member has said that he thinks there are too many politicians, or too many representatives of the people, which is another way of putting it.

Is he saying that he is not in favour of B.C., Alberta, Ontario or Quebec getting additional seats so they can be represented appropriately in this chamber? It is a bit rich for a member from Manitoba to say that a vote in Manitoba is worth more than a vote in Ontario.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, at the end of day, what the government was hoping to accomplish by increasing the number of members in Parliament could have been accomplished by maintaining the 308 representatives. By the way, the Prime Minister at one time suggested that Canada needed no more than 300 members of Parliament. However, in fact, the Liberal Party provided a document which demonstrated just how this could have been done. I suspect there is a good number of Conservative members who do not support an increase in the number of the members of Parliament.

I know the Liberal Party stands alone in recognizing what is of value and interest to all Canadians, which is that we do not need to increase the number of members of Parliament. Only the New Democrats and Conservatives believe we need to increase the number of MPs. We believe that it bad prioritizing.

[Andrew Cash, NDP, Davenport, ON]

Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member struggles for some sort of relevancy in the House, he perhaps wants to offer his own position as a sacrifice to Canada's fiscal health and welfare. Sitting down, perhaps, would be a start.

I want to ask my friend about the Liberal government's record around omnibus legislation. Right now the Liberals are supporting our push to split this omnibus bill, yet in the 1990s they did the same thing.

Furthermore, in talking about jobs, we see an actual reduction in jobs with the bill. Our young people will get no support or respite from this document. There is a 15% unemployment rate among young people, which is the official rate, but we know it is much larger.

Could my hon. friend tell me how this budget implementation bill reflects the fact that Canadians need to get back to work? We need strong legislation that supports Canadian workers and we do not see it here.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, first, let me correct the member. He has absolutely no understanding in terms of what he is talking about if he believes Liberal omnibus bills were anywhere near to what the Conservative bill is.

If he is trying to say that the NDP would not bring in omnibus bills, what he needs to do is take a look at provincial jurisdictions where there have been NDP governments. The national government of Canada was no worse during the 1990s than the provincial NDP were in other jurisdictions. The member needs to get a better understanding. The NDP is not as innocent as he might like to think.

Regarding the youth issue, yes, youth unemployment is a serious issue, but does Bill C-45 deal with it? It would have been nice to have had more of a general discussion about the budget, but there is a challenge for the government to produce more for young people in Canada.

However, when the government cut back the Katimavik program, which was a wonderful Trudeau program, it demonstrated that the Conservatives did not really understand—

[The Acting Speaker, Barry Devolin]

Resuming debate, the hon. member for Peace River.

[Chris Warkentin, Conservative, Peace River, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I am thankful for the opportunity to stand in this House to speak in favour of Bill C-45, which truly would bring jobs and opportunity to Canada.

Today, I stand in this House, proud to be a representative of the Peace country. I represent the riding of Peace River, which includes the better part of northwestern Alberta. In this area, we know the value of jobs, opportunity and growth. Over the last number of years, that is exactly what we have seen.

I have often said that I am proud to represent the Peace country. It is a beautiful place, but its beauty is only a small reason for me to be so proud. The larger reason for me to be so proud to represent that constituency, the constituency that is home, that is where I was born and grew up, is that the people who live in the Peace country are dedicated to growing a local economy and building a stronger future, not only for our community but for the country in general.

A couple of weeks ago, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business announced that Grande Prairie, which is the largest urban centre in the riding I represent and the largest city in the Peace country, was recognized as the most entrepreneurial city. That was not just for this year. That was for the third year running.

The people in the Peace country understand the value of jobs and growth. This bill speaks to so many of the issues people from my riding have indicated are priorities for them. That is why I am so proud to stand in this House to support this bill.

I am proud to represent and work for the people of my riding. I am also proud to represent and work for Canadians in general, from coast to coast.

Over the last couple of years, I have had the privilege of serving in two specific and different roles. The first was as a commissioner on the Red Tape Reduction Commission, which travelled this country and heard from small business leaders across Canada. They talked about the necessity of Canada leading in reducing red tape, because one of the biggest hindrances Canadian businesses face is government-created red tape.

The second role I am going to speak to, generally, is my role as the chair of the Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Committee. I have served in this capacity since the last election, and I can tell members that it is truly a privilege. This budget has some important and good news for that role, as well.

I will speak, first, to my role as a commissioner on the Red Tape Reduction Commission.

I, along with six of my colleagues, seven MPs in total, as well as seven representatives from the private sector, made up this national commission.

For over a year and a half, we travelled the country of Canada, from one coast to the other, hearing from small business leaders who were concerned about so many things.

We know, and we knew going into this whole exercise, that Canadian small businesses, and businesses in general, have a huge burden when it comes to red tape. As a matter of fact, it is estimated that the cost of compliance with red tape created by government costs businesses across the country $30 billion on an annual basis. That is a huge amount of money. However, there is also the frustration and the missed opportunities businesses have when complying with unnecessary red tape when they could otherwise be growing their companies.

We heard a whole host of different concerns when it comes to the amount of paperwork government requires at the federal, provincial, and municipal levels, and, in some cases, the redundancy of that.

As we have seen, last year's budget began the process of dealing with some of the red tape irritants. Specifically, in the act we see before us today is an issue brought up on a regular basis when we travelled the country, namely, changes to the Navigable Waters Protection Act.

We heard from small business owners across this country about the frustration as it relates to the construction industry and as it relates to industries that actually have to service and build bridges and waterway structures from coast to coast. From fishermen to people in the tourism industry to people in the forestry sector to people in the mining sector, we heard about the frustration as it relates to navigable waters.

I do not have to be a commissioner at the national level to know that this is an irritant. As a matter of fact, I have an example in my hand today. It was interesting that I heard a colleague from the NDP mention that she had never heard of anybody experiencing such frustration. I can say that on a regular basis I hear of business leaders and municipalities that have had major frustrations dealing with this outdated act.

Last year I received a letter from one of the largest forest products companies in my riding. It had an unfortunate circumstance when one of its temporary bridges was washed out. The forestry sector cannot rely solely on provincial and municipal roadways. It has to have an integrated roadway network constructed and owned by forestry companies, independent of government-owned infrastructure.

I will briefly read from the letter. It was as a result of the washout of a temporary bridge that had been in place. The forest company stated:

[It] has received all necessary approvals for the demolition and construction of a new bridge including approvals from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Alberta Environment and Water. Both agencies expedited their approvals

They ensured that all precautions were taken as they related to the environment and protection. It went on to explain the other things they oversaw.

What was clear was that what would be undertaken by the Navigable Waters Protection Act would simply be redundant. There had already been assurance that transportation on that river, which is not used for transportation, would not be impeded. What was interesting to me was that this company was proposing a bridge that would have less environmental impact, because it spanned the water from one coastline to the other without any disturbance of the banks. This bridge was going to be much taller, so it would limit less any traffic underneath it if, in fact, somebody wanted to canoe on what was a pretty small waterway. All of the things we would consider to be common sense had already been addressed by the company, yet there was an unnecessary delay.

Somebody in the House might ask who cares if there was a delay. Let me explain. I care. They described the bridge and its use. They stated:

The bridge is used to transport timber out of the forest. If the replacement is not in place for the remainder of the winter log-haul, the mill will not have enough timber for the coming year, resulting in catastrophic economic impacts on the company and the community.

I found out that there would be mass layoffs at one of the largest mills in the province of Alberta if this bridge was not replaced.

I can say that the changes to the navigation protection act are welcomed by industry, which creates jobs, opportunity and growth in my community, and also by municipalities that have had similar circumstances and frustrations, especially as they relate to responding quickly after infrastructure is damaged as a result of weather.

The second point I want to speak to is something important that has not been discussed in the House very often in this debate and unfortunately not at all by the opposition benches. It is the whole issue of the changes to the land designation for first nations lands.

In 1988, an amendment to the Indian Act was made to create the ability for first nations to have more control over their own land to create economic opportunity and prosperity for their communities. A couple of things are going to be changed as a result of the budget act in place today. The first is that we are going to create an environment in which the threshold for voting would be similar to that of a federal, provincial or municipal election. A simple majority would allow first nations to move forward with changes to the land designation. The second is that we are going to create less onerous and reduced red tape for first nations as it relates to getting government approval.

These are just two points. I would be happy to go further in answering questions on either of these or any other points.

[John Rafferty, NDP, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I always enjoy the discussions that go on in this place, particularly with this member, who is very sincere about the bill when he talks about it.

I have a question about the first part of his speech about navigable waters.

I have been approached by a number of municipal leaders in northern Ontario. They are concerned that when changes happen within waters within municipal boundaries, a downloading process will take place, and municipalities will now have to foot the cost of environmental assessments. If that is true, that is a real problem the government has not considered. If they are not right, I wonder if the member could explain to us exactly how an environmental assessment would now take place in navigable waters that are within municipal limits?.

[Chris Warkentin, Conservative, Peace River, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I can assure the member that the primary goal of the Navigable Waters Protection Act is to preserve navigation. It is to ensure that people who want to use the waterway to float down the river are able to do that.

Of course, a lot has changed since the act was first put in place. We are talking about quite an archaic piece of legislation. It was a time when people were using canoes to transport goods for commerce. That does not happen anymore. We have different types of shipping and different mechanisms to transport our goods and services. Therefore, that provision within the bill has certainly changed based on new modes of transportation.

In terms of environmental assessments, these provisions of the past continue. There is no change to the protection of the environment as a result of changing the definition of what it is to navigate a river.

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate the member for not mentioning the Canadian Wheat Board in his speech, which, as I have told him several times, is really a red hot issue in my riding.

The member mentioned small business a number of times. I would like to ask him a question about taxation of small business. Thanks to the Conservative government, as of January 1 of next year, businesses, including small businesses, will pay an extra $410 million in EI premiums. Small businesses hate this tax, because it is a direct tax on jobs, and it affects them disproportionately. Partially in compensation, the government is providing a tax credit worth half that amount, $205 million, which means that net, the government is increasing taxes on small business to the tune of $205 million a year. How can the member support a bill that imposes big new taxes on small business? Is he that much in favour of higher taxes?

[Chris Warkentin, Conservative, Peace River, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the simple answer is that if people have jobs, which our government has been preoccupied with creating, they will not have to collect EI. We know that the system works such that as people draw down on the system, more needs to be put into the bank account. If people are pulling out EI payments, more has to be put in. That is a principle everyone understands.

The principle most Canadians do not understand is that hard-working workers put money into the EI fund when the Liberals were in control of the coffers, and the Liberals decided to just raid the fund. We know where some of the money went. It was the $40 million that is still missing after the sponsorship scandal. Quite frankly, if that money had not been raided, I am certain that we would not have seen the fluctuations in the rates we have had to see to ensure that there is enough money to offset the cost.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it is always a challenge to approach a bill of over 400 pages covering 40 different laws and have 10 minutes to try to make my way through it. I appreciate this chance to speak to the bill at second reading. I will of course be watching closely for work at committee and hope that some of the concerns I have about the bill now can be repaired at committee so that I will not have to put forward hundreds of amendments at report stage, which at this point appears likely.

The increasing use of omnibus bills is an affront to democracy. It is not appropriate and while other governments have perhaps trespassed close to the line before and created howls from the members of the opposition of the day, certainly the current Privy Council holds the Olympic world record for monster omnibus bills. No other government has come close.

Here I would like to commend all sides of the House for the fact we were able to split out and deal separately with MP pension reform. Many Canadians were happy to see that work. Perhaps we can do more by co-operating in the future to separate out pieces of bills that do not belong.

What things in this bill do not seem to belong at all in a proper budget bill? I will go quickly through some examples and then delve more deeply into two in particular. I do not think that removing the Hazardous Materials Information Review Commission properly belongs in an omnibus bill. Why are we getting rid of it? It helps provide critical information to business on hazardous materials.

I lament the current government's further deep cuts to research and development credits, specifically the scientific research and experimental development tax credit. If we look at our economy, it is quite true that we have weathered the economic storm better than most nations around the world. We have a better regulated banking system quite frankly, and the current government can take no credit for that. Nonetheless, we did weather the storm better.

Nonetheless, if we look at the indicators of where we are falling behind, one area is productivity and productivity, which relates to R and D. Cutting R and D does not make sense. I am concerned about significant cuts in this omnibus bill to research and experimental development tax credits.

The Windsor-Detroit bridge is highlighted in the bill and many people have waited a long time to see improvements there. We know we have some private sector opposition to it from the other side of the border. It is an extremely bad precedent that the act specifies there will be no environmental assessment and that the following acts will be exempt from the procedures for the Windsor-Detroit bridge: There will be no Fisheries Act review, no involvement of the Species at Risk Act and there will be nothing from the Navigable Waters Protection Act. This precedent, by the way, is opposed by the member of Parliament from Windsor, who himself is a great proponent of getting this project done.

The assumption implicit in discarding legislative review under those acts is that somehow those acts are irrelevant to any project the Conservatives really care about. I am afraid that is the truth about how the government operates, but that does not make it any less lamentable to find this in the legislation.

One piece that I want to take more time to delve into may surprise the House. The bill is supposed to be about jobs and growth. We hear about that all the time. In this connection, I would mention a key economic sector in Canada that we do not hear very much about: tourism. Tourism represents more of Canada's GDP than agriculture, forestry and fisheries combined. It employs nearly 600,000 Canadians, generating nearly $80 billion in economic activity. However, we are losing ground in tourism.

In the year 2002, Canada was rated seventh in the world as a tourist destination among all nations. Guess what? In 2011, we dropped to eighteenth place. We dropped from seventh to eighteenth in just in 9 years. What happened? For one, there are the policies of the current government. One of the first things the Prime Minister did once forming government was to remove the GST credit that foreign visitors used to get. That credit was basically a goodwill gesture. It cost this country almost nothing, because so few people applied for it. However, the Conservatives got rid of it.

Then of course there was the move by the United States to require visitors to Canada and visitors to the U.S. who travel across our borders to have passports. We cannot blame any government for what the United States decides to do, but I think we should have pushed more forcefully against it. That measure has hurt tourism a lot, just as the general climate after 9/11 hurt tourism from the United States. However, we hurt the tourism sector even more in Bill C-38 by changing the rules around seasonal workers to make it harder for seasonal workers to leave employment in an industry such as tourism and be considered reliably available to the employer when the tourist season begins again.

However, now we have this, found on page 270 in division 16 under “immigration and refugee protection”, a whole new regime for tourists. It is little mentioned in debate on the omnibus bill but is for travellers to Canada. Any foreign national coming to Canada would now have to clear an application process in which they would have to answer questions before they planned their vacation. It would create what they call “an electronic travel authorization”, although that is not the language of the act but the language of the technical briefing. In short, there would be an electronic travel authorization.

I have a couple of concerns about this. One is that it would hurt tourism. There is no question about that. When we put in place visa requirements for countries like Mexico and the old Soviet bloc nations, it had an effect on tourism, as anything would that creates a barrier in a competitive tourist market where tourists can decide whether they want to take the train across Canada or a tour down the Rhine by boat. They have choices. If one government says, “We'll see if we'll let you in, fill out this form”, tourists will choose to go somewhere else. This would be a terrible mistake. It would be part of our over-security conscious agenda, that even if people want to visit Canada as tourists, we have the right to put them on a no-fly list to prevent their coming here. I am very concerned about that.

I will turn to the most egregious elements of Bill C-45, the changes to the Navigable Waters Protection Act. I hear my friends on the other side of the House refer to the many complaints about the act because only seasonally navigable water falls under the act. Surely, if that were the nature of the problem, they could deal with it by using a fly swatter. They did not need to bring in the wrecking ball. If that is the problem, get out the fly swatter. What the Conservatives would do under Bill C-45 would be to take on, I think, in the order of 99.5% of all the bodies of water within Canada, excluding our oceans, and remove them from the Navigable Waters Protection Act. They say that the act was never intended to be about navigable waters, that it was only supposed to be about navigation.

Just to go back to some constitutional law for purposes of setting the context, we cannot say with any sense or meaning that this bill was only intended to do thus and such when a bill was passed in 1882 or since 1867, since navigation is a head of power for the federal government. They cannot say that in 1867 the legislators never intended it to apply to the environmental assessment of a massive hydro dam. Of course, they did not. Neither did they intend, as Professor Peter Hogg has pointed out, that undertakings connecting the provinces would include an interprovincial telephone system. It had not been invented yet. Moreover, as Professor Hogg pointed out in one of his constitutional law texts, “[I]t is well established that the general language used to describe the classes of subjects (or heads of power) is not frozen in the sense in which it would have been understood in 1867”. Then he goes on to say, “On the contrary, the words of the Act are to be given a "progressive interpretation", so that they are continuously adapted to new conditions and new ideas”. Or, as a member of the high court, Lord Sankey, ruled in 1930, “The British North America Act planted in Canada a living tree capable of growth and expansion within its natural limits”.

Therefore, it is entirely absurd to hear the government members continually tell us that the Fisheries Act was only supposed to be about fisheries for all time, not fish; and that the Navigable Waters Protection Act was never about waters, but only about navigation. That is bad in law, it is bad in theory and it is bad public policy. It is also false. These laws have been fundamental to environmental law in Canada.

However, I ask the question: If it is about navigation, why would the Conservatives take a wrecking ball to navigation? In the bill, they have protected lakes in precious cottage country, close to where people live, where they claim there are all the complaints, and eliminated the law for the vast tens of thousands or millions of hectares of Canada where the lakes are not cottage country. They would eliminate the protection on all but 62 rivers and 97 lakes. Who would step up to protect our rights of navigation?

Under constitutional law, no province is allowed to step up and fill the void when the federal government runs from its responsibilities under the Constitution. It is unprecedented in the history of Canada that the federal government would willingly and deliberately remove itself from a field in which it is empowered under our Constitution. It would leave no protection for navigation, no protection for recreational use, no protection for rafting or kayaking and, in the process, would eliminate environmental law for most of Canada's waters.

[Costas Menegakis, Conservative, Richmond Hill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in her speech the hon. member referred to the electronic travel authorization, a mechanism that is actually designed to facilitate travel to Canada for low risk travellers. It would help us identify those who are of higher risk before they come to Canada. We are living in a day and age when security is of primary concern.

My question to the hon. member is simply this: Does it not make sense to work with our partners around the world to ensure that programs like the ETA are in place so that we can better protect our communities, our children and families and the places they shop or go to school from high risk situations? We need to ensure as a government that people who come to this country are of no risk to Canadian citizens.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Speaker, we have to get the balance right. Of course, we expect Canadian intelligence and security services to work diligently to prevent people who pose a danger to Canada from visiting Canada.

However, the idea that that this would facilitate tourism is clearly contrary to the facts. Tourists to Canada will be required to go online or fill out a paper form. Indeed, they must have that form with them or they will not be able to get into Canada. What kind of message does that send to tourists?

I think we have the balance quite wrong. If we want to ensure that no tourists come to Canada who could ever present a risk, then I suggest we ban tourism. However, to pretend that this would somehow facilitate tourism is simply false.