Bill C-48 (Historical)

Technical Tax Amendments Act, 2012

An Act to amend the Income Tax Act, the Excise Tax Act, the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act, the First Nations Goods and Services Tax Act and related legislation

Part 1 of this enactment implements, in accordance with proposals announced in the March 4, 2010 Budget and released for comment on August 27, 2010, amendments to the provisions of the Income Tax Act governing the taxation of non-resident trusts and their beneficiaries and of Canadian taxpayers who hold interests in offshore investment fund property.
Parts 2 and 3 implement various technical amendments in respect of the Income Tax Act and the Income Tax Regulations relating to the taxation of Canadian multinational corporations with foreign affiliates. The amendments in Part 2 are based on draft proposals released on December 18, 2009. Among other things, Part 2 includes the amendments to the foreign affiliate surplus rules in the Income Tax Regulations that are consequential to the foreign affiliate changes to the Income Tax Act announced in the March 19, 2007 Budget. The amendments in Part 3 are based on draft proposals released on August 19, 2011. Among other things, Part 3 includes revisions to the measures proposed in a package of draft legislation released on February 27, 2004 dealing primarily with reorganizations of, and distributions from, foreign affiliates.
Part 4 deals with provisions of the Income Tax Act that are not amended in Parts 1, 2, 3 or 5 in which the following private law concepts are used: right and interest, real and personal property, life estate and remainder interest, tangible and intangible property and joint and several liability. It enacts amendments, released for comments on July 16, 2010, to ensure that those provisions are bijural, in other words, that they reflect both the common law and the civil law in both linguistic versions. Similar amendments are made in Parts 1, 2, 3 and 5 to ensure that any provision of the Act enacted or amended by those Parts are also bijural.
Part 5 implements a number of income tax measures proposed in the March 4, 2010 Budget and released for comment on May 7, 2010 and August 27, 2010. Most notably, it enacts amendments
(a) relating to specified leasing property;
(b) to provide that conversions of specified investment flow-through (SIFT) trusts and partnerships into corporations are subject to the same loss utilization restrictions as are transactions between corporations;
(c) to prevent foreign tax credit generators; and
(d) implementing a regime for information reporting of tax avoidance transactions.
Part 5 also implements certain income tax measures that were previously announced. Most notably, it enacts amendments announced
(a) on January 27, 2009, relating to the Apprenticeship Completion Grant;
(b) on May 3, 2010, to clarify that computers continue to be eligible for the Atlantic investment tax credit;
(c) on July 16, 2010, relating to technical changes to the Income Tax Act which include amendments relating to the income tax treatment of restrictive covenants;
(d) on August 27, 2010, relating to the introduction of the Fairness for the Self-Employed Act;
(e) on November 5, 2010 and October 31, 2011, relating to technical changes to the Income Tax Act;
(f) on December 16, 2010, relating to changes to the income tax rules concerning real estate investment trusts; and
(g) on March 16, 2011, relating to the deductibility of contingent amounts, withholding tax applicable to certain interest payments made to non-residents, and certain life insurance corporation reserves.
Finally, Part 5 implements certain further technical income tax measures. Most notably, it enacts amendments relating to
(a) labour-sponsored venture capital corporations;
(b) the allocation of income of airline corporations; and
(c) the tax treatment of shares owned by short-term residents.
Part 6 amends the Excise Tax Act to implement technical and housekeeping amendments that include relieving the goods and services tax and the harmonized sales tax on the administrative service of collecting and distributing the levy on blank media imposed under the Copyright Act announced on October 31, 2011.
Part 7 amends the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act to clarify, for greater certainty, the authority of the Minister of Finance and of the Minister of National Revenue to amend administration agreements if the change in question is explicitly contemplated by the language of the agreement and to confirm any amendments that may have been made to those agreements. Part 7 also amends the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act and the First Nations Goods and Services Tax Act to enable the First Nations goods and services tax, imposed under a tax administration agreement between the federal government and an Aboriginal government, to be administered through a provincial administration system, if the province also administers the federal goods and services tax.
Part 8 contains coordinating amendments in respect of those provisions of the Income Tax Act that are amended by this Act and also by the Jobs and Growth Act, 2012 or that need coordination with the Pooled Registered Pension Plans Act.

Technical Tax Amendments Act, 2012

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have actually been on target all the time. I was talking about families; they get taxed. They pay taxes and they want an easier tax system. I talked about small business; the owners pay taxes, they want an easier tax code and they want us to eliminate red tape. Those are all important to Canadians. When I talk about the hard-working men and women who work on the assembly line at Ford, GM or Chrysler, they pay taxes.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

They pay a lot.

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

Yes, exactly, Mr. Speaker. As the member for Oakville says, they pay a lot. They work hard, they pay a lot and they expect their members of Parliament to do the exact same thing.

I get why the member for Davenport is so upset. It is because we are calling those members out on the fact that they want to go home at nine o'clock and that working late is tough for them. That speaks volumes to the attitude of the New Democrats. They do not want to talk about taxes. Unless it is about increasing taxes, they do not want to hear about it.

That is why they have lost 16 straight elections in this country. Since their party was founded in 1961, they have lost 16 straight elections. Why is that? It is because nothing they talk about ever resonates with Canadians, because Canadians know that in order to actually govern this country, we have to work with Canadians, listen to Canadians, and listen to small-business owners, medium-business owners, and even big business, the people who create wealth, and see what it is that they need to make the economy succeed.

They need to sit down with families. They need to invest in infrastructure. They need to invest in quality health care, as we do. After decades of Liberal cuts and NDP cuts in the Province of Ontario, we started to turn the tables and to make those important investments.

They talk about closure. The New Democrats have commented that we were bringing in closure again. Why are we bringing in closure? It is because we have to govern. This is a party whose members, when presented with it, actually support this bill. In committee, the New Democrats did not offer any amendments; they support it. However, they are filibustering it because they do not want it to pass.

The members of this party, when presented with a philanthropy bill to say thanks to those Canadians who give their time and money in support of their community, said they cannot give support to pass it because they have to filibuster it. They cannot even pass the simplest pieces of legislation.

Perhaps they want to continue to obstruct because they are so embarrassed by how great this country is doing, by how we are leading the global tide to prosperity, and it does not fit their political agenda. The New Democrats are an angry caucus over there, an angry group of people, because what they would rather do—

[The Speaker, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please. The hon. member for Davenport is rising again.

[Andrew Cash, NDP, Davenport, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am going to rise on that one because, quite frankly, I am a little concerned that the member is going to explode over there with anger and rage. We are here until midnight and we are here for a respectful debate, and that member should wind it back to that way of talking in this House.

[The Speaker, Andrew Scheer]

I will again remind the hon. parliamentary secretary that there are opportunities to debate some of the issues that he has been bringing up. We are on third reading stage of Bill C-48. He has about five minutes left, and I trust that the remainder of his time will be spent addressing the actual substance of the bill.

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

Mr. Speaker, he is right: I am going to explode. I am going to explode with pride in how well this country has been doing under the Conservative government, led by our Prime Minister, and under the policies that our Minister of Finance and our Minister of State for Finance have brought and under all of the good work that Conservatives on both sides of the House have been doing during this time of global economic downturn. Am I going to burst with excitement and pride? Absolutely, I am going to. I thank the hon. member for pointing out how proud I am of this country and everything that we have done.

Once again, because I know the NDP does not understand the relevance of families, it does not understand the relevance of businesses and how they pay taxes, it does not understand—

[The Speaker, Andrew Scheer]

The hon. member for LaSalle—Émard on a point of order.

[Hélène LeBlanc, NDP, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

Again, Mr. Speaker, I have to raise a concern. The gentleman is not talking about Bill C-48. He is characterizing and not speaking to the importance of this bill and its different measures. We are in third reading, as the Speaker rightly pointed out. I would like the member to talk specifically about the different measures that are in this bill and to make sure Canadians understand the actions of the government regarding Bill C-48.

[The Speaker, Andrew Scheer]

I appreciate the member for LaSalle—Émard raising this point.

I have asked the parliamentary secretary a couple of times to come back to the debate. We will move on to questions and comments. We were going to be interrupted very soon anyway, and this will at least allow a question that will perhaps bring us back to the substance of the bill.

The hon. member for Davenport.

[Andrew Cash, NDP, Davenport, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I listened intently to my hon. colleague's speech. First, he referenced Frank's & Son Barber Shop, and I am wondering if Frank and his son have extended benefits at their place of employment—a workplace pension, in fact, and job security. These are all important measures that any government that cared about working people would be focused on.

I want to draw the member's attention to a comment made by the Minister of Finance on March 1, 2008, when he stated:

If you're going to make a new business investment in Canada...the last place you will go is the province of Ontario.

That is your province. How can you go back to your riding in Ontario and defend your government when it trash talks—

[The Speaker, Andrew Scheer]

I am going to stop the member for Davenport. Saskatchewan is actually my province. The member should remember to address his comments through the Chair and not directly to other members.

The parliamentary secretary has about a minute or two to respond, and then we will have to put the question.

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

Mr. Speaker, thanks to this government, Frank's & Son Barber Shop actually has access to the pooled registered pension plan. It has access to reduced taxes. It is busier than it has ever been.

While other economies in other places of the world have unemployment of 20%, in Canada it is reduced constantly. In fact, in my area, York region, unemployment is at 6%. The region is on fire because of the policies of the Minister of State for Science and Technology. He has done some extraordinary things and made the quality investments that have helped lead our regions out of this global economic downturn.

When we talk about the city of Toronto itself, where the member comes from, we are seeing massive investments through the Pan American Games. We are seeing the city of Toronto turn the tide. When we talk about Ontario, I guess I would have to agree that the fact that there is a Liberal government in Ontario is a disadvantage.

[Alain Giguère, NDP, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC]

Is he reading us a political leaflet or is it Bill C-48? I would point out that this bill has been in the making for 12 years—

[The Speaker, Andrew Scheer]

Order.