Bill C-31 (Historical)

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1

An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on February 11, 2014 and other measures

Part 1 implements income tax measures and related measures proposed in the February 11, 2014 budget. Most notably, it
(a) increases the maximum amount of eligible expenses for the adoption expense tax credit;
(b) expands the list of expenses eligible for the medical expense tax credit to include the cost of the design of individualized therapy plans and costs associated with service animals for people with severe diabetes;
(c) introduces the search and rescue volunteers tax credit;
(d) extends, for one year, the mineral exploration tax credit for flow-through share investors;
(e) expands the circumstances in which members of underfunded pension plans can benefit from unreduced pension-to-RRSP transfer limits;
(f) eliminates the need for individuals to apply for the GST/HST credit and allows the Minister of National Revenue to automatically determine if an individual is eligible to receive the credit;
(g) extends to 10 years the carry-forward period with respect to certain donations of ecologically sensitive land;
(h) removes, for certified cultural property acquired as part of a gifting arrangement that is a tax shelter, the exemption from the rule that deems the value of a gift to be no greater than its cost to the donor;
(i) allows the Minister of National Revenue to refuse to register, or revoke the registration of, a charity or Canadian amateur athletic association that accepts a donation from a state supporter of terrorism;
(j) reduces, for certain small and medium-sized employers, the frequency of remittances for source deductions;
(k) improves the Canada Revenue Agency’s ability to provide feedback to the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada; and
(l) requires a listing of outstanding tax measures to be tabled in Parliament.
Part 1 also implements other selected income tax measures. Most notably, it
(a) introduces transitional rules relating to the labour-sponsored venture capital corporations tax credit;
(b) requires certain financial intermediaries to report to the Canada Revenue Agency international electronic funds transfers of $10,000 or more;
(c) makes amendments relating to the introduction of the Offshore Tax Informant Program of the Canada Revenue Agency;
(d) permits the disclosure of taxpayer information to an appropriate police organization in certain circumstances if the information relates to a serious offence; and
(e) provides that the Business Development Bank of Canada and BDC Capital Inc. are not financial institutions for the purposes of the Income Tax Act’s mark-to-market rules.
Part 2 implements certain goods and services tax/harmonized sales tax (GST/HST) measures proposed in the February 11, 2014 budget by
(a) expanding the GST/HST exemption for training that is specially designed to assist individuals with a disorder or disability to include the service of designing such training;
(b) expanding the GST/HST exemption for services rendered to individuals by certain health care practitioners to include professional services rendered by acupuncturists and naturopathic doctors;
(c) adding eyewear specially designed to treat or correct a defect of vision by electronic means to the list of GST/HST zero-rated medical and assistive devices;
(d) extending to newly created members of a group the election that allows members of a closely-related group to not account for GST/HST on certain supplies between them, introducing joint and several (or solidary) liability for the parties to that election for any GST/HST liability on those supplies and adding a requirement to file that election with the Canada Revenue Agency;
(e) giving the Minister of National Revenue the discretionary authority to register a person for GST/HST purposes if the person fails to comply with the requirement to apply for registration, even after having been notified by the Canada Revenue Agency of that requirement; and
(f) improving the Canada Revenue Agency’s ability to provide feedback to the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada.
Part 2 also implements other GST/HST measures by
(a) providing a GST/HST exemption for supplies of hospital parking for patients and visitors, clarifying that the GST/HST exemption for supplies of a property, when all or substantially all of the supplies of the property by a charity are made for free, does not apply to paid parking and clarifying that paid parking provided by charities that are set up or used by municipalities, universities, public colleges, schools and hospitals to operate their parking facilities does not qualify for the special GST/HST exemption for parking supplied by charities;
(b) clarifying that reports of international electronic funds transfers made to the Canada Revenue Agency may be used for the purposes of the administration of the GST/HST;
(c) making amendments relating to the introduction of the Offshore Tax Informant Program of the Canada Revenue Agency;
(d) permitting the disclosure of confidential GST/HST information to an appropriate police organization in certain circumstances if the information relates to a serious offence; and
(e) clarifying that a person cannot claim input tax credits in respect of an amount of GST/HST that has already been recovered by the person from a supplier.
Part 3 implements excise measures proposed in the February 11, 2014 budget by
(a) adjusting the domestic rate of excise duty on tobacco products to account for inflation and eliminating the preferential excise duty treatment of tobacco products available through duty free markets;
(b) ensuring that excise tax returns are filed accurately through the addition of a new administrative monetary penalty and an amended criminal offence for the making of false statements or omissions, consistent with similar provisions in the GST/HST portion of the Excise Tax Act; and
(c) improving the Canada Revenue Agency’s ability to provide feedback to the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada.
Part 3 also implements other excise measures by
(a) permitting the disclosure of confidential information to an appropriate police organization in certain circumstances if the information relates to a serious offence; and
(b) making amendments relating to the introduction of the Offshore Tax Informant Program of the Canada Revenue Agency.
In addition, Part 3 amends the Air Travellers Security Charge Act, the Excise Act, 2001 and the Excise Tax Act to clarify that reports of international electronic funds transfers made to the Canada Revenue Agency may be used for the purposes of the administration of those Acts.
Part 4 amends the Customs Tariff. In particular, it
(a) reduces the Most-Favoured-Nation rates of duty and, if applicable, rates of duty under the other tariff treatments on tariff items related to mobile offshore drilling units used in oil and gas exploration and development that are imported on or after May 5, 2014;
(b) removes the exemption provided by tariff item 9809.00.00 and makes consequential amendments to tariff item 9833.00.00 to apply the same tariff rules to the Governor General that are applied to other public office holders; and
(c) clarifies the tariff classification of certain imported food products, effective November 29, 2013.
Part 5 enacts the Canada–United States Enhanced Tax Information Exchange Agreement Implementation Act and amends the Income Tax Act to introduce consequential information reporting requirements.
Part 6 enacts and amends several Acts in order to implement various measures.
Division 1 of Part 6 provides for payments to compensate for deductions in certain benefits and allowances that are payable under the Canadian Forces Members and Veterans Re-establishment and Compensation Act, the War Veterans Allowance Act and the Civilian War-related Benefits Act.
Division 2 of Part 6 amends the Bank of Canada Act and the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation Act to authorize the Bank of Canada to provide banking and custodial services to the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation.
Division 3 of Part 6 amends the Hazardous Products Act to better regulate the sale and importation of hazardous products intended for use, handling or storage in a work place in Canada in accordance with the Regulatory Cooperation Council Joint Action Plan initiative for work place chemicals. In particular, the amendments implement the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals with respect to, among other things, labelling and safety data sheet requirements. It also provides for enhanced powers related to administration and enforcement. Finally, it makes amendments to the Canada Labour Code and the Hazardous Materials Information Review Act.
Division 4 of Part 6 amends the Importation of Intoxicating Liquors Act to authorize individuals to transport beer and spirits from one province to another for their personal consumption.
Division 5 of Part 6 amends the Judges Act to increase the number of judges of the Superior Court of Quebec and the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta.
Division 6 of Part 6 amends the Members of Parliament Retiring Allowances Act to prohibit parliamentarians from contributing to their pension and accruing pensionable service as a result of a suspension.
Division 7 of Part 6 amends the National Defence Act to recognize the historic names of the Royal Canadian Navy, the Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force while preserving the integration and the unification achieved under the Canadian Forces Reorganization Act and to provide that the designations of rank and the circumstances of their use are prescribed in regulations made by the Governor in Council.
Division 8 of Part 6 amends the Customs Act to extend to 90 days the time for making a request for a review of a seizure, ascertained forfeiture or penalty assessment and to provide that requests for a review and third-party claims can be made directly to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness.
Division 9 of Part 6 amends the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency Act to provide for the dissolution of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Board and to repeal the requirement for the President of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency to submit a comprehensive report every five years on the Agency’s activities and on the impact those activities have had on regional disparity.
Division 10 of Part 6 dissolves the Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation and authorizes, among other things, the transfer of its assets and obligations, as well as those of its subsidiaries, to either the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency or Her Majesty in right of Canada as represented by the Minister of Public Works and Government Services. It also provides that the employees of the Corporation and its subsidiaries are deemed to have been appointed under the Public Service Employment Act and includes provisions related to their terms and conditions of employment. Furthermore, it amends the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency Act to, among other things, confer on the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency the authority that is necessary for the administration, management, control and disposal of the assets and obligations transferred to the Agency. It also makes consequential amendments to other Acts and repeals the Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation Act.
Division 11 of Part 6 provides for the transfer of responsibility for the administration of the programs known as the “Online Works of Reference” and the “Virtual Museum of Canada” from the Minister of Canadian Heritage to the Canadian Museum of History.
Division 12 of Part 6 amends the Nordion and Theratronics Divestiture Authorization Act to remove certain restrictions on the acquisition of voting shares of Nordion.
Division 13 of Part 6 amends the Bank Act to add regulation-making powers respecting a bank’s activities in relation to derivatives and benchmarks.
Division 14 of Part 6 amends the Insurance Companies Act to broaden the Governor in Council’s authority to make regulations respecting the conversion of a mutual company into a company with common shares.
Division 15 of Part 6 amends the Motor Vehicle Safety Act to support the objectives of the Regulatory Cooperation Council to enhance the alignment of Canadian and U.S. regulations while protecting Canadians. It introduces measures to accelerate and streamline the regulatory process, reduce the administrative burden for manufacturers and importers and improve safety for Canadians through revised oversight procedures and enhanced availability of vehicle safety information.
The amendments to the Railway Safety Act and the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act, 1992 modernize the legislation by aligning it with the Cabinet Directive on Regulatory Management.
This Division also amends the Safe Food for Canadians Act to authorize the Governor in Council to make regulations respecting activities related to specified fresh fruits and vegetables, including requiring a person who engages in certain activities to be a member of a specified entity or organization. It also repeals the Board of Arbitration.
Division 16 of Part 6 amends the Telecommunications Act to set a maximum amount that a Canadian carrier can charge to another Canadian carrier for certain roaming services.
Division 17 of Part 6 amends the Canada Labour Code to allow employees to interrupt their compassionate care leave or leave related to their child’s critical illness, death or disappearance in order to take leave because of sickness or a work-related illness or injury. It also amends the Employment Insurance Act to facilitate access to sickness benefits for claimants who are in receipt of compassionate care benefits or benefits for parents of critically ill children.
Division 18 of Part 6 amends the Canadian Food Inspection Agency Act to provide that fees fixed under that Act for the use of a facility provided by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency under the Safe Food for Canadians Act as well as fees fixed for services, products and rights and privileges provided by the Agency under that Act are exempt from the application of the User Fees Act.
Division 19 of Part 6 amends the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act to, among other things, enhance the client identification, record keeping and registration requirements for financial institutions and intermediaries, refer to online casinos, and extend the application of the Act to persons and entities that deal in virtual currencies and foreign money services businesses. Furthermore, it makes modifications in regards to the information that the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada may receive, collect or disclose, and expands the circumstances in which the Centre or the Canada Border Services Agency can disclose information received or collected under the Act. It also updates the review and appeal provisions related to cross-border currency reporting and brings Part 1.1 of the Act into force.
Division 20 of Part 6 amends the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and the Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 2 to, among other things,
(a) require certain applications to be made electronically;
(b) provide for the making of regulations regarding the establishment of a system of administrative monetary penalties for the contravention of conditions applicable to employers hiring foreign workers;
(c) provide for the termination of certain applications for permanent residence in respect of which a decision as to whether the selection criteria are met is not made before February 11, 2014; and
(d) clarify and strengthen requirements related to the expression of interest regime.
Division 21 of Part 6 amends the Public Service Labour Relations Act to clarify that an adjudicator may grant systemic remedies when it has been determined that the employer has engaged in a discriminatory practice.
It also clarifies the transitional provisions in respect of essential services that were enacted by the Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, No. 2.
Division 22 of Part 6 amends the Softwood Lumber Products Export Charge Act, 2006 to clarify how payments to provinces under section 99 of that Act are to be determined.
Division 23 of Part 6 amends the Budget Implementation Act, 2009 so that the aggregate amount of payments to provinces and territories for matters relating to the establishment of a Canadian securities regulation regime may be fixed through an appropriation Act.
Division 24 of Part 6 amends the Protection of Residential Mortgage or Hypothecary Insurance Act and the National Housing Act to provide that certain criteria established in a regulation may apply to an existing insured mortgage or hypothecary loan.
Division 25 of Part 6 amends the Trade-marks Act to, among other things, make that Act consistent with the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks and add the authority to make regulations for carrying into effect the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks. The amendments include the simplification of the requirements for obtaining a filing date in relation to an application for the registration of a trade-mark, the elimination of the requirement to declare use of a trade-mark before registration, the reduction of the term of registration of a trade-mark from 15 to 10 years, and the adoption of the classification established by the Nice Agreement Concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks.
Division 26 of Part 6 amends the Trade-marks Act to repeal the power to appoint the Registrar of Trade-marks and to provide that the Registrar is the person appointed as Commissioner of Patents under subsection 4(1) of the Patent Act.
Division 27 of Part 6 amends the Old Age Security Act to prevent the payment of Old Age Security income-tested benefits for the entire period of a sponsorship undertaking by removing the current 10-year cap.
Division 28 of Part 6 enacts the New Bridge for the St. Lawrence Act, respecting the construction and operation of a new bridge in Montreal to replace the Champlain Bridge and the Nuns’ Island Bridge.
Division 29 of Part 6 enacts the Administrative Tribunals Support Service of Canada Act, which establishes the Administrative Tribunals Support Service of Canada (ATSSC) as a portion of the federal public administration. The ATSSC becomes the sole provider of resources and staff for 11 administrative tribunals and provides facilities and support services to those tribunals, including registry, administrative, research and analysis services. The Division also makes consequential amendments to the Acts establishing those tribunals and to other Acts related to those tribunals.
Division 30 of Part 6 enacts the Apprentice Loans Act, which provides for financial assistance for apprentices to help with the cost of their training. Under that Act, apprentices registered in eligible trades will be eligible for loans that will be interest-free until their training ends.

[Chantal Bernier, Interim Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, members of the committee, for inviting me to discuss the privacy implications of Bill C-31.

Like my colleagues, I will focus on the United States Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA, and I will conclude with some brief comments on two other parts of the bill that have privacy implications.

FATCA is a U.S. law which requires financial institutions in countries outside of the United States, including Canada, to report certain information on accounts of a U.S. person to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, or IRS. Bill C-31 includes an agreement to implement this through the Canada Revenue Agency.

While there is a long-established practice of information sharing between nations for the purposes of taxation enforcement, all information sharing activities must be undertaken in a way that respects privacy obligations. These obligations include limiting the amount of personal information collected to only that which is necessary for the stated purposes and safeguarding it appropriately.

The risk to privacy here, then, is mainly related to over-collection, over-reporting, and information security. To avoid over-collection and over-reporting, education and outreach to institutions affected by this new reporting requirement will be crucial. To address information security considerations, appropriate technological measures, as well as controls, will be called for.

Beyond this, Bill C-31 introduces other legislative amendments that affect privacy.

First, the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act—the PCMLTFA—will be modified in a way that broadens the amount of personal information collected and increases information sharing capabilities and requirements by the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada, FINTRAC.

I'm encouraged, however, by the provision of Bill C-31 that requires FINTRAC to destroy the personal information it receives that is not related to the suspicion of criminal or terrorist activity. This corresponds to our recommendations in our audits of FINTRAC.

Second, changes to the Income Tax Act will allow for broader disclosure of taxpayer information to law enforcement authorities. This means that if CRA officials have reasonable grounds to believe that taxpayer information provides evidence of certain crimes, they may disclose this information to law enforcement. It appears that this information would be shared between the CRA and law enforcement authorities without judicial oversight. We would urge the committee in its examination of this provision to seek demonstration that this provision is necessary, and if it is necessary that appropriate oversight mechanisms will apply.

In closing, thank you, Mr. Chair and members for the opportunity to discuss this issue. I welcome your questions.

[Brian Kingston, Senior Associate, Canadian Council of Chief Executives]

Mr. Chairman and committee members, thank you for the invitation to appear before you concerning part 5 of Bill C-31.

The Canadian Council of Chief Executives represents 150 chief executives and leading entrepreneurs in all sectors and regions of the country. Our member companies collectively administer $4.5 trillion in assets, employ more than 1.4 million people, and are responsible for the majority of Canada's private sector exports, investment, and training.

The CCCE supports the government's decision to enter into an intergovernmental tax information sharing arrangement with the U.S. The agreement will ensure that Canadians are not exposed to punitive U.S. withholding taxes on income from their investments under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA. Fortunately for the overwhelming majority of Canadian account holders, the agreement will have no impact on how they deal with their financial institutions.

The CCCE is of the view that Canada should have been exempt from the FATCA. Canada is not a tax haven, and has a good reputation for sharing information that assists other governments in collecting their taxes. Unfortunately, an exemption from FATCA was not considered.

Without this exemption, obligations to comply with FATCA would have been unilaterally and automatically imposed on Canadian financial institutions and their clients. This would have required Canadian financial institutions to sign agreements with the Internal Revenue Service under which they would have to identify their U.S. account holders and report directly to the IRS. If a Canadian financial institution did not comply with reporting requirements, the financial institution and its clients would be exposed to punitive U.S. withholding taxes of 30% on income from their investments. This would also mean that non-compliant financial institutions could no longer do business in U.S. capital markets or with any institution that does business in U.S. capital markets.

Given the size and importance of the Canada-U.S. relationship, non-compliance was simply not an option. Canada cannot risk our partnership with the U.S., which has delivered enormous benefits to both countries over many decades.

Canada is not alone in negotiating an intergovernmental agreement with the U.S. The U.S. has engaged in negotiations with over 80 countries to reach intergovernmental agreements, and 32 other countries have signed such agreements.

The agreement is consistent with the government's support for recent G-8 and G-20 commitments intended to fight tax evasion globally. G-20 leaders have committed to the automatic exchange of tax information as the new global standard, and endorsed a proposal by the OECD to develop a global model for the automatic exchange of tax information. The OECD has also signaled an intention to begin exchanging information automatically on tax matters among G-20 members by the end of 2015.

Going forward, it is important that there is coordination among G-20 members. This exercise will not prove effective if not properly coordinated, with countries imposing unilateral measures.

This is part of a global trend toward tax transparency. In line with this trend, the CCCE recently released a report that shows the tax contributions made by our members to all levels of government. There is ever-increasing public interest in how much tax is paid by companies. This report shows that Canadian companies are significant taxpayers, with an average total tax rate of 33.4% of profits.

In conclusion, the CCCE strongly supports the intergovernmental agreement negotiated by the government and looks forward to its full implementation.

I'd be happy to answer any questions. Thank you.

[Darren Hannah, Acting Vice-President, Policy and Operations, Canadian Bankers Association]

Good afternoon.

My name is Darren Hannah. I'm the acting vice-president of policy and operations with the Canadian Bankers Association.

I'm very pleased to be here today at the committee's invitation.

The CBA strongly supports the government's decision to enter into the intergovernmental tax information sharing arrangement with the U.S., because it relieves Canadians of the burden they would otherwise face due to the U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act.

As you know, FATCA, as legislation, was passed in the United States in 2010 and is intended to detect U.S. persons who are evading tax using financial accounts held outside the U.S. Under FATCA, non-U.S. financial institutions would be required to report relevant information to the U.S. tax authorities about financial accounts held by identified U.S. persons.

The CBA has been very clear on FATCA from the beginning. We understand that the U.S. government is attempting to address tax evasion; however, we have opposed how they're going about it with FATCA. Canada is not a tax haven, and Americans do not move here to evade taxation. We actively opposed FATCA publicly and appeared before and made submissions to U.S. government authorities.

Unfortunately, despite worldwide efforts by the CBA and others, U.S. officials have no intention of repealing FATCA, and simply ignoring FATCA is not an option. Non-compliance would mean that both financial institutions and every customer of that financial institution, both in Canada and around the world, would face a 30% withholding tax on U.S. source income and the sale of any U.S.-source investments, and potentially a withholding tax on Canadian source income due to so-called “foreign pass-through payment” provisions.

This means that any bank customer or retiree who has mutual funds, stocks, or bonds would face potentially billions of dollars of lost income to withholding tax even if they had no other ties to the U.S.

For financial institutions, non-compliance would effectively mean that they would no longer be able to do business in the U.S. capital markets or with any institutions that do business in U.S. capital markets, which is effectively every major financial institution in the world.

To ensure that Canadians did not face the substantial negative consequences that would have come with FATCA, the Canadian government announced on February 5, 2014, that it had entered into an intergovernmental agreement with the U.S. government under the existing Canada-U.S. tax convention. The requirements of the IGA are reflected in the proposed changes to the Income Tax Act in Canada under Bill C-31, and financial institutions in Canada will be required to comply with the changes under Canadian law.

We have agreed with the federal government that entering into an intergovernmental agreement is the best approach under the circumstances. We recognize and support the efforts that the Canadian government has made.

Under the intergovernmental agreement, financial institutions in Canada will report relevant information on accounts of U.S. persons to the Canada Revenue Agency rather than directly to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. The CRA will then exchange the information with the IRS through the provisions of the existing Canada-U.S. tax convention. The 30% FATCA withholding tax will no longer apply to retail clients of Canadian financial institutions.

So what does this all mean for bank customers in Canada? Well, for the vast majority of Canadian bank customers who are not U.S. persons, the IGA has no impact at all. Under the intergovernmental agreement, banks would be required to review their customer information. If there is no information indicating that an individual may be a U.S. person, then they won't have to do anything. If a customer has an existing account and there is an indication that they may be a U.S. person, or if they're opening a new account, their financial institution may ask them to provide additional information or documentation to demonstrate that they're not a U.S. person.

Under the intergovernmental agreement and Canadian banking law, proof of citizenship is not required to open a banking account. The vast majority of Canadians can open an account with a financial institution in the way they always have; however, if there is some indication in a new or existing account that they might be a U.S. person, then the financial institution may ask them to self-certify that they are or are not a U.S. person for tax purposes.

In conclusion, as I've said, FATCA is here to stay, and ignoring it is not an option. We fully support the government's work in putting in place an intergovernmental agreement.

I look forward to your questions. Thank you.

[John Richardson, As an Individual]

Thanks very much for the chance to appear today.

I did take the time to watch yesterday's session, which was actually enormously helpful to me, as I'm sure it was to you. I have a couple of thoughts, though, that are my own but directly link to that. The signing of the FATCA IGA can be seen as either good news or bad news.

First, interestingly, is the good news. It's the point that Professor Cockfield made yesterday. In fact, what this does ensure is that Canada is absolutely 100% in compliance, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. That's what it means to have signed that agreement.

Interestingly, the agreement specifically states that nothing happens until Canada makes it clear that it has done all of the legwork needed to actually implement the agreement, which I would assume to be all of the enabling legislation that we find in Bill C-31. Given that's the case, as Professor Cockfield pointed out, there's absolutely no reason to rush this whatsoever, absolutely none. This should not be in the dark recesses of an omnibus bill. It should in fact be brought to see the light of day in a separate bill.

The second aspect of this that's very interesting in the IGA itself—and this question was asked yesterday—is who this applies to. It applies to U.S. persons and is defined in the agreement as “U.S. citizens or residents”. Now, what is extremely significant is that U.S. citizens are defined solely by the United States today, tomorrow, and forever. That means that someone who is a U.S. citizen today might not be a U.S. citizen tomorrow—and I'll have more on this as we continue the discussion—but given that the U.S. has the right to define who a citizen is, given that I presume Canada would cede that right to them, I think it's extremely important, absolutely essential, under any FATCA agreement that the definition of a U.S. citizen could never, never, never include any Canadian citizen who is a resident in Canada.

Third, we've got the whole problem of what FATCA actually means. Having watched a few of these committees, I see a lot of technical discussion of FATCA and a lot of discussion of regulations. In other words, there's a lot of talk about how to implement this agreement, but precious little on what it actually means in terms of the lives of Canadians, and precious little in terms of what it means in terms of the country itself.

The simple fact of the matter is that FATCA, once implemented, will allow the U.S. to put a permanent capital tax on Canada every day of every year for as long as this agreement is in effect, simply by virtue of using U.S. citizens in Canada to tax and siphon revenue out of the country. It is a myth, an absolute myth, and it is completely wrong that under U.S. tax laws, U.S. citizens will not owe tax to the IRS. This is for two reasons. The first is that the U.S. tax code is hostile to anything foreign, and that would include anything in Canada in general, but secondly, anything that involves tax deferral, and it is plainly obvious that all of the pillars of Canadian retirement planning do in fact involve tax deferral.

So it is a myth that U.S. citizens would not owe tax. It is a myth. Interestingly, as I read in something yesterday, the opposite of truth is not the lie: the opposite is in fact the myth. This agreement will have severe consequences for Canada and Canadians.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

I call this meeting to order.

This is meeting number 35 of the Standing Committee on Finance. Our orders of the day, pursuant to the order of reference of Tuesday, April 8, 2014, are the study of Bill C-31, An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on February 11, 2014 and other measures.

Colleagues, we have two panels before us this afternoon.

In the first panel, we're very pleased to welcome Mr. John Richardson, and, from the Canadian Bankers Association, the acting vice-president, Mr. Darren Hannah. From the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, we have Mr. Brian Kingston, and from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, we have Privacy Commissioner Madam Chantal Bernier.

Bienvenue. Each of you will have five minutes maximum for your opening statement.

We'll begin with Mr. Richardson, please.

[Murray Rankin, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Thanks again to all of our witnesses for being here.

My first question is for Professor Cockfield. The constitutionality of FATCA and hence our IGA in Bill C-31 has been questioned by many constitutional lawyers, notably Peter Hogg, Joseph Arvay, and others.

The Minister of Finance told us that the minister and the Department of Justice are responsible to make sure our laws are constitutional, but he didn't really know what likelihood or what percentage of likelihood had been attributed to this agreement as to whether it would be constitutional.

You have also expressed concerns about the constitutionality of these provisions. I wonder if you could elaborate a little bit for us.

[Ralf Hensel, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary and Director of Policy, Investment Funds Institute of Canada]

Good afternoon.

As you've heard, I am Ralf Hensel, general counsel, corporate secretary, and director of policy at the Investment Funds Institute of Canada. I thank the committee for inviting IFIC to participate in its consideration of Bill C-31 and I'm privileged to be its representative here today.

IFIC is the trade association representing the Canadian mutual funds industry. The fund managers, fund distributors, and service providers to the Canadian industry all contribute to IFIC's work. Canadians currently entrust more than $1 trillion of their assets in mutual funds. The industry takes its responsibilities to these investors very seriously.

IFIC's interest is in Bill C-31's implementing legislation for the intergovernmental agreement between Canada and the United States concerning FATCA. Recognizing that non-compliance with FATCA is not a realistic option, we have advocated for requirements that impose the least possible burden and cost on mutual fund investors specifically and on the industry generally.

As you are aware, the U.S. imposes income tax based on U.S. citizenship regardless of jurisdiction of residence. As such, FATCA applies to U.S. citizens resident in Canada. We support the federal government's work and negotiations with the U.S. that have led to completion of the IGA on this initiative.

We believe the IGA is essential. It minimizes impact by reducing the number of Canadian investors who will be impacted by FATCA, the number of accounts that will be reported to the Internal Revenue Service, and the amount of administration and re-documentation that will be required.

The IGA will also significantly reduce the costs to implement FATCA, costs that are ultimately borne by investors. In fact, without the IGA, Canadian investors may have their access to U.S. financial assets, held either directly or through mutual funds, significantly curtailed or have the rates of return on such assets significantly reduced.

Let me elaborate.

Under the IGA, all of RRSPs, RRIFs, PRPPs, registered pension plans—you've heard the list—all the way to TFSAs are exempted from any documentation or reporting requirements under FATCA. The benefits to fund investors are clear: millions of mutual fund accounts will be exempt from FATCA reporting. Investors will not be asked to provide any additional information to document or demonstrate their non-U.S. taxpayer status in any such accounts.

Without the IGA, Canadian financial institutions would each need to sign an agreement with the IRS that would prevent them from opening or maintaining accounts for investors who do not provide sufficient information about their U.S. taxpayer status. The IGA eliminates any need to refuse or to open new accounts or to close existing accounts.

FATCA requires tax information on U.S. investors to be sent directly to the IRS. If to do so would breach domestic privacy laws, the regulations require the financial institution to obtain from every impacted investor a waiver or consent allowing the institution to send their tax information to the IRS. We believe this is a virtual impossibility.

Financial institutions would eventually be required to close the account of every investor not willing to provide a waiver. Under the IGA, the information will be sent to the Canada Revenue Agency, which will forward it to the IRS under established intergovernmental protocols.

Canadian financial institutions that cannot comply with FATCA requirements would be subject to a 30% withholding tax on any U.S.-source income. This would significantly reduce the returns of all investors in Canadian funds that hold securities generating such income.

The IGA for practical purposes removes the threat of withholding taxes, since reporting will be taking place. Without the IGA, investor accounts would need to be re-documented every few years at substantial inconvenience and cost. Under the IGA, an investor need only fill in the form once. It remains valid unless the investor's status changes.

Finally, the IGA gives the Canadian government and the CRA authority to set the rules for FATCA implementation in Canada. With industry, rules have been developed consistent with FATCA principles but tailored to reduce the scope of impact for Canadian investors. For example, mirroring well-established industry practices used to comply with anti-money laundering identification—

[Prof. Arthur Cockfield]

—it's nothing. We're not getting anything other than the relief of the threatened economic sanctions. The Americans, in the intergovernmental agreement, give us vague assertions of reciprocity, but they will never come through. U.S. lawmakers and U.S. citizens will never accept the evisceration of their privacy rights and their privacy laws, which of course is what they're asking of you.

My main recommendation is to amend Bill C-31 so that the legislation is in place, is implemented, but only affects temporary residents of Canada—U.S. citizens who are here temporarily and not permanently. I believe this will be in compliance with the American demands and that hence there will not be any economic sanction.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

I call back to order meeting number 34 of the Standing Committee on Finance. We are continuing our consideration of Bill C-31, An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget.

Colleagues, we have five witnesses for our second panel. We have Professor Cockfield as an individual from Queen's University. Welcome back to the committee. We have from the Investment Funds Institute of Canada, Mr. Ralf Hensel, general counsel. Welcome. We have the president of the Portfolio Management Association of Canada, Ms. Katie Walmsley. Welcome back to the committee as well. We have from London, Ontario, presenting as an individual, Ms. Lynne Swanson. Welcome, from London. By video conference, from New York, as an individual, we have Mr. Max Reed, an attorney. Welcome.

Thank you for joining us this afternoon. You each have a maximum of five minutes for an opening statement.

We'll begin with Professor Cockfield, please.

[Murray Rankin, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Okay.

You may know that the official opposition, the NDP, has asked that the intergovernmental agreement provisions of Bill C-31 be withdrawn from the bill for further study.

You made reference just now in your remarks to the U.S. Treasury just announcing an 18-month grace period. In fact, Mr. Berg just mentioned continuing concerns with such things as spousal trusts.

I'd like you to comment on how real the threat is of a withholding tax if our financial institutions didn't comply right away, and whether there really is such a need for haste?

[Ian Russell]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

My name is Ian Russell. I'm president and CEO of the Investment Industry Association of Canada. I am pleased to appear before the finance committee this afternoon to make the case for the passage of part 5 of Bill C-31.

This legislative package includes important provisions related to compliance with U.S. FATCA legislation. It is the product of almost five years of extensive consultation between the Canadian securities industry, other institutions in the Canadian financial sector, and the Canadian and U.S. tax authorities.

This legislation will greatly facilitate Canadian financial institutions and their clients' compliance with the sweeping provisions of the U.S. FATCA legislation. The Investment Industry Association of Canada urges members of the committee to recommend approval of this legislation expeditiously.

No one doubts that the FATCA legislation is an aggressive policy approach to force compulsory U.S. tax reporting by U.S. citizens resident outside of the United States, effectively exerting extraterritorial reach to meet its policy objectives.

This approach, however, is not without precedent. In the last five years since the 2008 financial crisis, the Canadian securities industry has experienced similar aggressive tactics in the reform of securities regulations that have taken place under the G20 directives. Both U.S. and European securities regulators have imposed new regulations with little regard for coordinating these efforts for more harmonized cross-border rules. The extraterritorial application of these regulations has resulted in much duplication and complexity, raising costs and inefficiencies for foreign institutions dealing in the U.S. capital markets. The regulatory burden has not been mitigated through measures such as regulatory recognition of respective jurisdictions.

The United States and the EU can engage in these aggressive tactics to force compliance with their own rules, recognizing that compliance is the condition for needed access to U.S. and European capital markets by Canadian investors and their financial institutions. U.S. regulators, in effect, use the size and importance of their capital markets as leverage to force compliance with their own aggressive rules, engaging in extraterritorial rule-making.

FATCA follows this same aggressive practice. The failure to comply with U.S. tax reporting rules would have serious consequence for Canadian institutions and their clients. Canadian investors would be subject to the full 30% withholding at source on U.S. investments. Moreover, Canadian financial institutions would be required to disclose the financial information of their FATCA affected U.S. clients, or otherwise risk penalties and sanctions that could seriously interfere with their U.S. financial business. All major Canadian financial institutions, banks, and insurance companies have built a significant presence in U.S. capital markets. This offshore business is increasingly important to the overall growth of these institutions and their underlying profitability and shareholder returns.

The Investment Industry Association of Canada has taken a leading role in coordinating with other institutions and in consultations with the U.S. Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service, as well as the Canadian tax authorities, to develop an acceptable framework of exemptions from the reporting obligations, phased-in reporting rules, and an overarching intergovernmental agreement that builds on the existing Canadian-U.S. information sharing tax protocol. This comprehensive framework is designed to achieve an effective and cost-efficient tax reporting mechanism under FATCA legislation, one that treats Canadians fairly; avoids inconvenience to innocent tax-paying Canadians by eliminating provisions requiring account closure and punitive U.S. withholding tax; focuses efforts on tax avoidance schemes; and respects privacy considerations.

[Marc-André Pigeon, Director, Financial Sector Policy, Credit Union Central of Canada]

Thank you Mr. Chair and honourable members of the committee for this opportunity to share with you our thoughts on Part V of Bill C-31.

As you know, Part V implements an intergovernmental agreement on FATCA, or the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act.

Before addressing our views on this agreement allow me to begin by making a few preliminary remarks regarding the role of my organization, Canadian Central and, more generally, the credit union system in Canada.

Canadian Central is a national trade association for its owners, the provincial credit union centrals. Through them we provide services to about 330 affiliated credit unions across Canada. These credit unions currently operate in more than 1,700 branches, serve 5.3 million members, hold $160 billion in assets and employ about 27,000 people.

Credit unions in Canada come in all shapes and sizes, as you probably know. Our smallest credit unions such as iNova Credit Union in Halifax, Nova Scotia has less than $30 million in assets and only 10 employees. Our biggest credit unions, such as Vancity in British Columbia, has just under $20 billion assets and employs thousands of people.

But even our biggest credit unions are small next to the country's biggest banks which are at least 20 times bigger than Vancity, for example. This disparity means that new regulations like FATCA can pose a real challenge to all credit unions big and small alike. While the government is to be congratulated on signing an agreement that mitigates some of the regulatory burden of FATCA, we have some concerns.

Our major concern at this point is that the unavoidable regulatory burden imposed by FATCA may, in the near future, be compounded by the OECD's efforts to create a single, unified standard for automatic exchange of financial account information. Specifically, we worry that credit unions will end up with two different tax compliance regimes. We'll have an intergovernmental agreement on FATCA that includes some exemptions for smaller financial institutions like credit unions and we'll have the OECD requirements which, to date, do not contemplate any such exemptions and, though modelled on FATCA, appear to require significantly greater reporting. For that reason we're encouraging the federal government to hold strong to the view expressed in a recent declaration which it signed, that the OECD's multilateral approach “not impose undue business and administrative costs”.

For us, that means including small institution exemption thresholds, harmonizing the OECD rules with FATCA, and not having to file the same information—or worse yet, different information—with two different organizations.

The second issue we want to discuss has to do with regulatory burden more generally. Last year we conducted a survey of affiliated credit unions to gauge the impact of regulatory burden on the system. We found that small credit unions, those with fewer than 23 employees, like iNova Credit Union, for example, devoted fully 21% of their staff time to dealing with regulatory matters, whereas bigger credit unions, like Vancity with more than 100 employees or thousands of employees, only averaged about 4% of their full-time staff on compliance issues.

These results show that regulatory burden, like that imposed by FATCA, disproportionately harms smaller financial institutions and hurt their ability to compete, even with some of the exemptions and thresholds embedded in the intergovernmental agreement.

Our survey also found that the number one regulatory burden for credit unions comes from federal rules around anti-money laundering and terrorist financing. To date, the federal government has resisted applying its red tape reduction strategy to these regulations because apparently the rules do not affect small businesses. The fact is, however, that credit unions are the small businesses in the financial service sector and we are affected.

So, we're asking that the federal government revisit these rules to help offset the FATCA regulatory compliance burden faced by credit unions. We believe this request is consistent with the federal government's one-for-one regulatory burden initiative which is designed to offset new regulations which the elimination of older ones.

To conclude, we wish to thank the committee for the opportunity to participate in its review of Bill C-31, and Part V in particular.

Our general view is that the federal government has made the best of a bad situation in negotiating its intergovernmental agreement on FATCA. We are asking that it continue to be sensitive to the needs of smaller financial institutions in the negotiations with its OECD partners, and that it more diligently apply its red tape reduction approach to the anti-money laundering and terrorist financing rules.

I look forward to your questions.

[Prof. Allison Christians, Professor, H. Heward Stikeman Chair in Tax Law, McGill University, As an Individual]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you so much for inviting me to speak to the committee regarding the portion of Bill C-31 that enacts FATCA in Canada.

While tax law professors are generally not known for brevity, I hope to be succinct and clear in conveying two points to this committee. First, Canada generally does not and should not furnish information to foreign countries on Canadian citizens living in Canada, or assist countries in gathering any information in aid of tax administration, except according to very specific standards to which they formally agree. In that regard, the agreement before you falls short, as it's not clear that both sides are agreeing to the same thing, nor that these standards are respected when they subject many Canadian citizens to foreign financial jeopardy, and even criminal liability.

Secondly, Canadian officials may not furnish information to other countries except under very specific terms. Thus the lack of clarity in Bill C-31 may expose Canadian officials to liability as well.

I'm going to try to explain these two points in simple terms and therefore I'm going to risk oversimplification and I apologize for that. I'm more than happy to explain the complex legal concepts formally should you have any questions for me. Please let me state at the outset that I fully understand the purpose of this law. We must ensure the integrity of the global tax system. Canada's government has demonstrated its commitment to cracking down on tax evasion by working to exchange relevant tax information with other countries. That's a goal we all want to work toward, yet there are important limits on this practice. We are working here with one of the world's most important treaties, important because of the close connections and shared economic interests of Canada and the United States.

There are long-standing limitations on how we and how countries generally react to the revenue and penal laws of other countries. We call these limitations the "revenue rule". The revenue rule says that Canada won't lend assistance to the U.S. to collect U.S. debts of people who were Canadian citizens when the debts arose. Period, full stop, no qualifications. To amplify this point, Canada does not assist in tax collection in any case unless the U.S. tax claim has been finally determined after a full measure of due process. Put this another way, we have a long history of not assisting or allowing other countries to engage in revenue collection activities in Canada for their own tax purposes.The U.S. has a very similar, if not stricter position.

But FATCA, as reflected in the bill before us today, tells us to ferret out our own citizens as likely U.S. tax debtors and present them and their financial resources to our most important treaty partner in an agreement of dubious status that may not even be a tax treaty. The bill suggests that this will be done in furtherance of the existing tax treaty. It goes significantly further. It forces us to ask ourselves how we can open our citizens and their money to the U.S., yet claims this does not constitute lending assistance. Canada must protect Canadians, and that is what the lending assistance rule and the limits on information disclosure do. They assert that the U.S. should have no enforceable tax claim that should be assisted by Canada on Canadians.

We need to make clear we won't take part in any enforcement in any form of assistance, whether it be in information or collection when ·it comes to Canadian citizens. I believe that is the spirit in which the government has accepted the terms of FATCA in the bill before the committee today, but this spirit must be reflected in the law. We cannot use a phrase like "information gathering” to blind ourselves to what is really occurring. Information sharing is not the end, it is the beginning. Our information exchange must also comply with Canadian law concerning when Canadian tax officials may divulge confidential taxpayer information. The law is not ambiguous: an official may disclose protected taxpayer information when we have agreed to do so under a tax treaty or other listed international agreement and not otherwise.

FATCA as implemented in Bill C-31 is not a tax treaty in U.S. law, nor is it a protocol to our tax treaty. Indeed, I am not sure what it is and I am not alone. Lawsuits have been initiated in the U.S. on this point and the issue is far from resolved.

The fact is that with this agreement, the U.S. will be the only nation with which Canada has both a tax treaty and a separate tax information exchange agreement, making the relationship between these two documents all the more confusing. So, what is this document when the two parties don't have a common view? If we do not know for certain, we may be in for a rude awakening in the context of civil or even criminal litigation.

There also appears to be a false impression that there is urgency in this matter, yet the U.S. has a list of countries it will "deem" to have an agreement like this in place, and Canada was the very first country on that list and it was there before we signed an agreement. Even if we weren't on the list, the U.S. Treasury recently announced another 18-month grace period, so we have the time to get this right. Let us not act in haste and repent at leisure.

I thank you for the opportunity to make these remarks today.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

I call to order meeting number 34 of the Standing Committee on Finance. The orders of the day, pursuant to the order of reference of Tuesday, April 8, 2014, are that we resume our study of Bill C-31, An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on February 11, 2014 and other measures.

We want to welcome our guests here this afternoon for this bill. We have first of all, as an individual, Professor Allison Christians from McGill University. Welcome to the committee. We also have from Credit Union Central of Canada, the director of financial sector policy, Monsieur Marc-André Pigeon. From Moodys Gartner Tax Law LLP, we have Mr. Roy Berg, director of U.S. tax law. Welcome. And from Toronto, we have by video conference the president and CEO of the Investment Industry Association of Canada, Mr. Ian Russell.

Mr. Russell, can you hear me okay?

Privacy

[Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Conservative, Minister of National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, there are rare occasions when CRA officials in the course of their regular duties become aware of information that any reasonable person would believe is evidence of serious criminal activity.

Let us be clear. Officials cannot share information on the mere suspicion of criminal activity or based on a request initiated by law enforcement authorities.

The amendments proposed in Bill C-31 will enable CRA officials to provide information to an officer—