No, no, that has been—
Evidence of meeting #34 for Finance in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was research.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #34 for Finance in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was research.
A recording is available from Parliament.
6:10 p.m.
Representative, Canadian Solar Industries Association
No, no, that has been—
6:10 p.m.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
I haven't seen it on paper. It's good that you put it on the record. That's why I asked.
6:10 p.m.
Representative, Canadian Solar Industries Association
Yes, there are data produced by third parties to verify that.
6:10 p.m.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
I have another quick question, because I want to move along.
When you state that we're losing out on the whole manufacturing end of solar technology, does it really matter? It's not as if someone is going to steal our solar rays Do we have to be ahead? What is the difference there? Why do we have to be ahead on the manufacturing end?
6:10 p.m.
President, Canadian Solar Industries Association
You're right, the sun will still be there, but the jobs will be in other countries. That's basically it.
6:10 p.m.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
That's what I want to hear. Thank you. Great.
Mr. Nantais, I have a quick question. In your brief, I guess you want to have the cake and eat it as well. You know the question that's going to come. You're asking for a tax credit, but in the end you don't want to pay tax on it. So if you have to pick one or the other, which one would it be?
6:10 p.m.
President, Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association
I'm not sure I understand your question.
6:10 p.m.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
Well, you're asking for the reintroduction of the credit for old vehicles. You mentioned the reintroduction of a competitive, flexible investment fund...as well as investments that upgrade...the existing Canadian automotive footprint.
6:10 p.m.
President, Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association
Are you referring to the ecoAuto—
6:10 p.m.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
You say:
Support for Canadian consumers who purchase advanced technology vehicles and when purchasing new vehicles in general which help to reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) through the elimination of the counterproductive federal taxes and fees....
etc.
So this would be extra money for your industry, would it not?
6:10 p.m.
President, Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association
Well, first off, we're talking about incentives for consumers. We're also talking about what we witnessed in the United States in relation to the money incentives they're providing for manufacturers to help them design or produce vehicles to meet these very stringent standards.
6:10 p.m.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
So the incentives would come from the government coffers, would they not?
6:10 p.m.
President, Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association
The incentives would be government incentive money. The program in the United States could be seen as a type of long-term loan agreement. The consumer issue here is one that would help consumers afford some of these more sophisticated, more costly technologies so that we can actually get more of them into the market, make them more affordable, advance that technology, and spread it across the market more quickly and more broadly.
6:10 p.m.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
You're also asking for corporate tax cuts, am I not...?
6:10 p.m.
President, Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association
No, I think we recognized and commended the government for taking the actions they did in reference to that.
6:10 p.m.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
Okay. Thank you.
The other question was to Mr. Gauthier. I ran out of time, but could you perhaps clarify the equal treatment on the sale of used vehicles? You ran through it in your brief, but I'm going to ask you to run through it again.
We don't have much time, but what are the inequalities? Are they just between provinces? I understand the same thing happens between Canada and the U.S.
6:10 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Automobile Dealers Association
Thank you very much. It's a very good question.
The inequity is that if you sell your own vehicle to Mr. Szabo--
6:10 p.m.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
He's too cheap to buy my vehicle. Oops, did I say that out loud?
6:10 p.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
6:10 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Automobile Dealers Association
--you are not required to charge GST. If, on the other hand, one of my members sells a used vehicle to Mr. Szabo, then we would have to charge GST in Ontario, that being 13%.
When GST was first introduced in the 1980s, this issue used to be addressed through a mechanism that was an input tax credit. It was later eliminated. As a result, what we now have, again using Ontario as an example, is a 13% disadvantage for dealers when selling used vehicles, compared to private sales.
In provinces that have harmonized their tax regime lately, that problem has been addressed, because private sales or sales from dealers to individuals are now taxed at the full HST rate. So we're just suggesting that this inequity be--
6:10 p.m.
Liberal
6:10 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Automobile Dealers Association
Quebec still has an assessment on private sales.
6:10 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Rajotte
Okay. Thank you.
I'll just remind colleagues that we should always speak well of our other colleagues. You were actually complimenting his frugality, I think.
6:10 p.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
6:10 p.m.
Conservative