Evidence of meeting #124 for Finance in the 42nd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was important.
A video is available from Parliament.
November 8th, 2017 / 4:40 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Thank you.
Have any offices that report to you as minister ever awarded contracts or paid work to a company in which you own shares?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
I don't think that deals with the supplementary estimates, Mr. Poilievre.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Actually it does, Mr. Chair.
The supplementary estimates provide funding for those same offices, and as a result the minister is here. He's answering questions about all kinds of other expenditures that the government wants to talk about. This might not be an expenditure he wants to talk about but the committees don't exist to the pleasure of ministers.
I'll ask again. Have any offices that report to you as minister ever awarded contracts or paid work to companies in which you own shares?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
Do you want to answer this question, because I think I can....
Go ahead.
Liberal
Bill Morneau Liberal Toronto Centre, ON
I hold no controlled shares in any company. That's quite easy for me to say at this stage. What I can say is that to the extent that I had any controlled assets in the past, I had a conflict of interest screening so I would have no way of answering that question.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
All right. Thank you.
The next question is regarding tax treaties with tax havens.
Mr. Minister, when you were asked about the ongoing tax treaty with Barbados and why you hadn't addressed that tax treaty as part of your grand crusade to raise taxes on other Canadians, you said, “we're not going to throw the baby out with the bathwater”. You didn't reveal when you made those public comments that you had formerly been on the board of a company that had relocated its office to Barbados.
Liberal
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Mr. Chair, the members across the way and the minister, in his earlier comments, went outside of those bounds as well, so I appreciate that you're narrowing the confines now—
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
No. Mr. McLeod's questions dealt with the supplementary estimates, because the reason we're putting the extra money in there is related to the issue he asked the question on.
Stick to the supplementaries if you can.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Okay, Mr. Chair, then I will return to a question that is directly linked to the supplementary estimates, which is the budgetary framework in which all estimates are funded.
I will ask the question again. In what year will the budget be balanced?
Liberal
Bill Morneau Liberal Toronto Centre, ON
As I've said, we think finding a balance is particularly important—
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
The Rules of Order say that repetitive questions can be cut. You can ask the question in a different way, but I'm not going to allow a series of questions on exactly the same words during this second session because we're going to run out of time.
Go ahead and ask it in a different way.
Conservative
Liberal
Bill Morneau Liberal Toronto Centre, ON
As I've said, our focus is responsibly investing in our economy so we can see growth, and doing that in a way that allows us to reduce debt as a function of our economy. Our economy is proving to be extremely successful, showing higher growth than we've seen in a decade, higher growth than the previous government experienced, job growth that hasn't been around for a decade, more families with more confidence than—
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
Mr. Minister, we're going to try to hold you to the same time as the questioner, if we can.
Go ahead. We'll stick to the rules.
Conservative
Liberal
Bill Morneau Liberal Toronto Centre, ON
Again, within the time period that we are estimating, we will actually have the lowest debt burden as a function of our GDP in 40 years.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
But when will we arrive at a day when the deficit is zero? In what year...?
Liberal
Bill Morneau Liberal Toronto Centre, ON
We will continue to make investments to get ourselves to a higher growth rate, which is what's been successful. That has allowed us to be in a much better economic position than we would have been otherwise, with more Canadians being successful. It's a very responsible fiscal approach.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Is it possible that you just don't know? You've been asked about 15 times today when the budget will be balanced, and you've been incapable of providing a year, a date, or even an approximation.
There is no shame, Minister, in just saying you don't know. Is that the case? Is it that you just don't know when the budget will be balanced?
Liberal
Bill Morneau Liberal Toronto Centre, ON
What we've said is that we believe managing our economy responsibly is important. The accolades we've received from organizations like the International Monetary Fund and the recognition of people like the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development are important. They're saying that the kinds of fiscal policies we're adopting, which have led to significant growth, many more jobs, and a very responsible approach to managing down our debt, are the right way to go forward. It's a balanced way of making a difference for Canadians.