Bill S-6 (Historical)

Canada–Madagascar Tax Convention Implementation Act, 2018

An Act to implement the Convention between Canada and the Republic of Madagascar for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income

This enactment implements the Convention between Canada and the Republic of Madagascar for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income and a related protocol.
The convention is generally patterned on the Model Tax Convention on Income and on Capital developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The convention has two main objectives: the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion. Once implemented, it will provide relief from taxation rules set out in, or related to, the Income Tax Act. That implementation requires the enactment of this Act.

Canada–Madagascar Tax Convention Implementation Act, 2018

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I was not part of government at the time, but we benefited from it. Our whole country benefited from the investments the government made.

When the Conservatives came in, there were five trade agreements. When we left, at the end of our term in 2015, there were over 40 trade agreements. Not only that, the Conservatives invested heavily in the Asia-Pacific gateway and Atlantic opportunities. That allowed Canada to move goods and people. They invested in airports. They invested in ports. They invested in bilateral agreements that were meaningful.

Only 3% of the Liberals' infrastructure spending has gone anywhere to boost our economy; that is 3% on trade and transportation and infrastructure. If we are not looking after our gateways, if we are not looking after our roadways and our networks and our infrastructure to move people and goods, we are going to lose our standing in this world.

I would argue that Canada's standing on the world stage has taken a fall from where we were in 2015. We have seen a mockery made of our country. I have said this before. We are now known more for what our leader wears than for principled policy, and that is shameful.

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

Mr. Speaker, it is the thinness of the bill before us, Bill S-6, a convention between Canada and Madagascar to avoid double taxation and prevent fiscal evasion, that has led us to go so far afield from the bill at hand during the time available for debate.

The member for Cariboo—Prince George said he lamented, as I do, the use of omnibus bills and omnibus budget bills to sneak things through. I completely agree with him, as many members of this House do, that having a Criminal Code provision stuck into the back of an omnibus budget bill was inappropriate.

My only point, and it may seem churlish, because my hon. friend from Cariboo—Prince George is indeed a friend and was not here in the 41st Parliament, is that the previous Conservative government used omnibus budget bills far more often and far more nefariously.

Now that we stand in these beautiful new quarters in West Block, in a courtyard with a glass roof, we may in fact say that we live in a glass house. I would recommend that all members remember that we all live in glass houses, and we should not throw stones.

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague knows that I respect her. As she said, I was not part of the previous Parliament. However, I can say that in the time I have sat in the House representing the good people of Cariboo—Prince George, I have been quite ashamed of what we have seen over the course of this term.

The government has completely forgotten rural Canadians and communities such as my riding of Cariboo—Prince George. It is making living more expensive for everyday Canadians while standing on the world stage being ashamed of our resource industries. In his very first statement on the world stage, the Prime Minister said that under his government, Canada would become known more for its resourcefulness than its natural resources. Again, that is shameful.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure for me to rise and address a bill that has really galvanized opinion in my constituency.

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

Oh, oh!

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

This is Bill S-6, an act to implement the convention between Canada and the Republic of Madagascar for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income.

My friend from Saanich—Gulf Islands appreciated my quip at the beginning. I will say that I do hear a lot about taxation issues in my constituency—not as much about the particulars of our relationship with Madagascar, but a great deal about taxation.

I do think it ironic that the government is proposing the implementation of a bill for the avoidance of double taxation, because if we want to avoid double taxation, I might suggest that the government start at home in avoiding it.

This is a good bill. This is a good agreement. However, as they say, charity starts at home. This is not really a matter of charity; it is a matter of letting people keep more of their own money and avoiding double taxation. How about if the government starts in an area of its own direct control?

Before I get into the particulars of this legislation and this issue, I want to mention that I had the pleasure this morning of meeting with Ms. Chemi Lhamo, who is the elected University of Toronto's Scarborough campus student union president, someone who has faced significant bullying, intimidation and threats from people who oppose her on the basis of her Tibetan background and her human rights advocacy on behalf of Tibet. There is indication that some of this intimidation and bullying may have as its source the nefarious inclinations of some diplomats here in Canada. This is a very serious issue in terms of freedom of speech on campus, and also in the way in which foreign diplomats may be engaging in intimidating Canadian students. Perhaps at a future point, the kind of response we as parliamentarians should have to these events should be the subject of detailed consideration and debate.

Having said that, I will now return to Bill S-6 and the proposal to seek, through an agreement with Madagascar, to avoid double taxation and address the issue of fiscal evasion.

I will make the case in my remarks that we should support this bill, but the first priority of the government should actually be to take the necessary steps here at home to address these very same issues: the tax burden that Canadians face and, in the area of fiscal evasion, the way in which the Canada Revenue Agency interacts with citizens.

On the issue of the Canada Revenue Agency and its relationship to citizens, it was interesting to see a post from the Minister of National Revenue, who is very excited that it is tax-filing season. I do not know if there has ever been a tax collector who was so enthusiastic about collecting taxes. Canadians are not enthusiastic about the taxes they are paying, and they are not enthusiastic about these incidents, which we hear about on a regular basis, of Canadians being harassed by the Canada Revenue Agency, having difficulty getting good information and having a hard time getting clarity and support around key issues.

That is why my colleague, the great member for Calgary Rocky Ridge, put forward a motion to give the Canada Revenue Agency a duty of care. Whatever people perceive to be the magnitude of the problems in terms of the behaviour of CRA in its interactions with citizens, giving the CRA a duty of care would ensure that citizens were treated well and fairly in their interactions with the agency.

Members in both the Liberal and NDP caucuses voted against this motion. That is interesting, because recently I have been hearing, in speeches being given by members of the NDP caucus, that they may have had a change of heart on this issue. We hear members of the NDP caucus speaking about instances they are hearing about in their ridings of CRA going after single moms and other citizens who do not have the lobbyists and connections of, say, an SNC-Lavalin. My friends in that section of the House have criticized the government for not addressing this poor treatment of citizens who lack those connections and points of access while at the same time exploring special deals with well-connected insiders.

I applaud the direction of that discussion by my colleagues in the NDP, but I hope that in the future they will support measures like the initiative from my colleague from Calgary Rocky Ridge. They had an opportunity to show clearly with their vote that they have these concerns and that they are standing up for their constituents. Instead, they voted against that motion. It is better late than never if they want to now come onside and support that initiative. It is maybe a little too late for this Parliament, but if we have their support and they have changed their minds and recognized the problem, maybe we can move forward in the future.

Certainly, though, the government has had no change on the issue. It voted against the motion for the CRA to have a duty of care in its interactions with citizens. In all of its statements and interactions, it continues to seem to not appreciate the need to address this vital issue, the frustration that so many citizens have in their dealings with the Canada Revenue Agency.

The time the government spent and the energy and resources it put into certain problems versus others make it very clear who the government is invested in helping. Are the Liberals seized with the challenges of the middle class and those working hard to join it, or are they seized with the challenges of SNC-Lavalin and, maybe more importantly, the political implications for themselves?

There was a very long cabinet meeting two days ago, and one wonders about it. Were the Liberals discussing how to help struggling families or struggling energy workers? Were they discussing how to address the challenges we face on so many fronts and the way in which those challenges affect everyday Canadians? I suspect they were discussing how to politically manage the message, something they have failed to do until now, on the worst corruption scandal we have seen in this country in a very long time. Canadians at home are wondering whether or not the government cares about their priorities when it votes down motions like the one from my colleague from Calgary Rocky Ridge and continues to pile on taxes.

We should reflect not only on the failures of the current government to attend to the needs of Canadians but also on its general lack of interest in the plight of Canadians. Its focus is not on what people at home are thinking about or on struggling energy workers and auto workers, but on protecting well-connected insiders. That is what we have seen from the government in recent weeks. We have seen in how many meetings how eager it was to try to get a legislative change into a budget bill, and then there is the implication that the Prime Minister inappropriately tried to encourage the former attorney general to do something with respect to the SNC-Lavalin prosecution. These are serious allegations.

One thing we know from the government's repeated and ongoing conversations is just how seized it was with this issue, while there was a corresponding lack of regard and concern for the struggles that Canadians face, showing a disconnect between the priorities of the government and those of Canadians. We can see it in what the government spends its time on and what it talks about. We can see it in its legislative program. We can see it in how its members vote on key opposition proposals, such as the proposal from our leader, which would have made parental leave tax-free. The Liberal members voted against that great proposal to cut taxes for new parents.

We also had a great proposal from our shadow minister for finance, the member for Carleton, for legislation that would have helped ensure that Canadians with disabilities are not penalized for entering the workforce.

Those are our priorities: cutting taxes for Canadians, helping Canadians with disabilities, helping new parents, and as my colleague from Calgary Rocky Ridge tried to do, helping those who have problems in their interactions with the CRA.

That is what we are trying to do on this side of the House. The government, though, is focused on helping well-connected insiders, and that disregard has consequences for people at home.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Keep a straight face.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

My friend across the way is heckling me. He does not appreciate the seriousness of this issue. Maybe when more of his colleagues come to hear this speech, then they can respond. I know he is carrying a lot of water for the team over there. Hopefully he is not too lonely.

I want to speak about the issue of—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I want to remind hon. members that the rules, as we remember, state that we cannot do indirectly what we cannot do directly. I want to point that out in case they are thinking of talking about other things. I am not sure what it is they are talking about, but I want to remind them of the rules.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I will do my best to avoid referring to the presence or absence of members for the duration of this speech. I appreciate the support of my colleagues as I deliver these remarks, but I understand why these messages are difficult for the government to hear.

I would like to speak about double taxation with respect to the carbon tax. We had another great legislative initiative from one of my colleagues, who is from Langley—Aldergrove, that would have tried to remove the GST being charged on top of the carbon tax. That is a pretty clear instance of double taxation. Right now the government is imposing a carbon tax on all Canadians. If the province does not agree or wants to go in a different direction in terms of its response to climate change, the government says no, it will impose a federal carbon tax.

The carbon tax will make everything more expensive. We can be sure that if the Prime Minister is re-elected, the carbon tax will go up significantly after the next election. He will not admit that right now, but he will not deny it either. If he succeeds in the next election, he will still want more of taxpayers' money, but he will not need their votes anymore. That is what we have to watch out for.

The carbon tax is already imposing pain on Canadians, but it will impose more pain as it goes up further. If the carbon tax goes up, then we will see an increase of the GST as well. The federal GST is charged on top of the carbon tax, and that goes directly into the federal coffers.

The government has claimed that the carbon tax is revenue neutral to the federal government, which is a bit of a joke. By “revenue neutral”, the government seems to mean at this point that the money will all be spent.

Transparently, and quite obviously, charging the GST on top of the carbon tax is a form of double taxation intended to go directly to the federal coffers. As the government, given the opportunity, will increase and increase the carbon tax, necessarily the GST will go up with it. We know that the government would like nothing better than to hike the GST as well. After it was cut by former prime minister Stephen Harper, the Liberals continually mused about the possibility of raising the GST.

When the Liberals are running deficits in the tens of billions of dollars, far beyond what they promised in the last election, we know they have a plan to raise taxes. They will try and do it in a way that is least noticed. They will try to remove deductions. They will try to change the framework. They will try, through the CRA, to crack down on ordinary Canadians and penalize them even for doing things that have been common practice and accepted as allowable for a long time.

They will do everything they can to increase the tax burden on Canadians without ever announcing the major tax increases they are bringing in. They will do it. That is necessarily their plan, because they have no ability to control spending.

When governments run deficits like this, then they will increase taxes. What is needed instead is a new government that will have different priorities from the current government, that will instead truly focus on providing tax relief to those Canadians who need tax relief the most.

Let us recall that that is what Conservatives have always done. We have targeted vital tax relief to those who needed it the most. We introduced a children's fitness tax credit. We introduced a transit tax credit. Those tax credits were eliminated by the Liberal government as a way of increasing taxes. The Liberals will look for more ways of increasing taxes.

Conservatives also lowered the GST from 7% to 6% to 5%. Liberals are trying to collect more GST through double taxation on the carbon tax. We cut the GST from 7% down to 5%. We lowered the lowest marginal rate of tax. We raised the base personal exemption, which is the amount of money Canadians could earn without paying any tax. Our tax cuts were targeted at those who needed those tax reductions the most.

The Liberal government has raised taxes on Canadians through the carbon tax, the removal of these credits and deductions, and through all sorts of other changes. As well, it has not in any way changed the tax rate for those who are making $45,000 or less a year. Its tax changes were more beneficial to somebody making an MP's salary than to somebody making $45,000 a year. That person making $45,000 a year experienced only increases, and most Canadians at all levels recognize they are paying more tax under the current government.

Canadians are paying for the mistakes of this Prime Minister. They are also paying for his lack of interest in their situation. When I talk to people in my riding, they are talking about the issue of double taxation. They are talking about the piling on of what they feel is triple taxation and quadruple taxation through all the new taxation measures, and the targeting of small business that we have seen under the current government. They see this at the same time as the government is pursuing special deals with well-connected insiders.

We need a new government in this country that wants to move forward on the avoidance of overtaxation and wants to do that through partnerships and treaties such as this agreement between Canada and Madagascar, but that is also prepared to take the steps necessary domestically to do what we can on our own, which is to reduce the taxes all Canadians pay.

We need a government that will hold the Canada Revenue Agency accountable to ensure it is treating all Canadians fairly, through the duty of care measures proposed by my colleague from Calgary Rocky Ridge, as well as through providing tax relief to Canadians, especially those who need it the most.

My friend across the way was scoffing when I said the previous government provided tax relief to those who needed it most. I invite him to stand up in a question and counter what I said with actual facts and argument. If we look at the record, all the tax cuts—

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Is it the Fraser Institute?

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the member is wondering about the source, and asks if it was the Fraser Institute. Maybe he spends time on Rebel Media, but I am not a subscriber. Maybe he is. He would know better what is being said over there.

However, my source is the mainstream media that reported at the time. He can look at the Finance Canada website for records about tax rates. I do not think it is a fact in dispute that the Conservative government lowered the GST from 7% to 6% to 5% , raised the base personal exemption, and lowered the lowest marginal rate of tax. It is a record of cutting taxes for those who need it most that any government would be proud of, and is something the current government should try.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the member started by talking about how important this particular bill was to his community. I want to commend him for spending about 30 seconds of 20 minutes actually talking about the bill.

He questioned not being able to remember political scandal, but I have a difficult time understanding how he cannot remember the incident with a sitting senator of his caucus and the scandal he went through, or perhaps the individual who was led away in handcuffs for trying to fix an election. Is his memory so short that he cannot remember those political scandals?

I appreciated and took with great interest what the member contributed today. What he really brought out was to question what this cabinet and this government are up to, but he could not be further from the truth in his assessment. On a daily basis, this government and this cabinet are looking out for middle-class Canadians and working Canadians to make sure they have a better quality of life than what was left to them by the former Conservative government.

I understand there is very little for the Conservatives to attack on, so they go to personal attacks. I can just imagine what it is like in the Conservatives' war room: “If we take this dot and try to connect it to this dot, and maybe blur the line along the way, Canadians will be subjected to believing our made-up fiction.”

The reality of the situation is that this side of the House is looking out for Canadians on a daily basis, and that is being exercised and coming to fruition through the policies and laws adopted by the Liberal government.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Mr. Speaker, when he was asked about the situation of the member for Vancouver Granville, the Prime Minister at one time said her presence in cabinet speaks for itself, and then the next day that was no longer true. Now we are hearing that nobody has been led away in handcuffs yet, and that speaks for itself. I might say, stay tuned; we will see where this one goes.

The member is saying his government is looking out for Canadians, and the louder he says it, the more likely it is to be true. We know from the records of meetings with lobbyists and the government's own voting record that Liberals voted against giving Canada Revenue Agency a duty of care. They voted against taking the taxes off parental leave benefits. They voted against a private member's bill that would have given new opportunities to disabled Canadians trying to get work. They voted against these stand-alone private members' initiatives, perhaps because they were just too busy thinking about how to prevent SNC-Lavalin from getting a good deal.

The member can speak loudly and emphatically, but the record, the news, the reality, and the Liberals' own votes speak for themselves. The way they have increased taxes speaks for itself. The member should talk to his constituents in Kingston and the Islands. I am looking forward to spending a lot of time talking to constituents in Kingston and the Islands myself very soon. I know many members of my caucus have already, and what they are hearing from voters in Kingston and the Islands is a grave concern about the increasing tax burden from the Liberal government. The member needs to do better.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I want to point out that members are debating Bill S-6, which has to do with Madagascar. I want to make sure everybody is aware of that.

The hon. member for Saanich—Gulf Islands.