Evidence of meeting #125 for Finance in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was changes.
A video is available from Parliament.
6:25 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
No, she did not. Mr. Fergus had the floor. Sorry.
Go ahead, Mr. Fergus.
6:25 p.m.
Liberal
6:25 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
We will have a recorded vote.
I want to confer with the clerk for a minute.
(Motion agreed to: yeas 5; nays 4)
6:25 p.m.
Conservative
6:25 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
I have a different motion: “That the committee commence a study in reference to aggressive tax avoidance and tax evasion”—
6:25 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Mr. Chair, we are able to make motions. The clerk ruled earlier that a motion similarly put was in order.
6:25 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
Before you do, just as a point of interest, Mr. Dusseault's motion, the original one, can be pulled up by him at the next meeting if he so decides. It's a temporary suspension.
Why we would go through a whole bunch of procedural wrangling here, I don't know, because he will have an opportunity to pull his motion off the table if he so decides, or anybody else on the committee, I think. Anybody can pull that motion.
Why would we go through a whole series of procedural wrangling when that's the possibility?
6:25 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
I can answer your question, Mr. Chair.
When motions are put, we seek only to have an opportunity to have a debate on them. The members across the way have tried to stifle that debate through the use of their majority to shut down any scrutiny of this matter.
Obviously tax evasion and tax avoidance are matters of great importance to Canadians. They have major impact on the revenues of the Government of Canada and on the fairness of our overall tax system. They shift the burden to middle-class people by allowing those who are well connected and wealthy to stash their cash where it's out of reach of the government, and their tax obligations go unsatisfied.
6:25 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
That's the reason. You asked the question of me, and I'm answering that question. I move:
That, given ongoing media revelations that could implicate some Canadians in aggressive tax avoidance or tax evasion, the Committee invite Stephen Bronfman, Revenue Chair for the Liberal Party of Canada; and Leo Kolber, former Senator and former chief fundraiser for the Liberal Part of Canada, to appear before the Standing Committee on Finance
—here's where the difference comes in—
before November 25, 2017, to answer questions relating to their offshore assets in jurisdictions that are considered to be tax havens.
Mr. Chair, I understand if members want to shut down this debate, as they did the last one. I would just seek the opportunity to state very briefly why I think it's important.
In the public interest, related to the finance committee, the government claims it's in favour of tax fairness, yet it is favouring well-connected and wealthy insiders, allowing them to avoid paying their fair share of taxes while raising the tax burden on everyday Canadians. The fact that the government is fighting so furiously to keep this debate from happening, to shut it down before anyone can speak, demonstrates that it doesn't don't want any transparency in this particular area. The government members have not even given a single piece of rationale as to why they wouldn't want to have the debate if their party and their government have nothing to hide on the subject.
They said tax fairness was their number one priority. Then Mr. Dusseault put forward a motion that would allow them to prove it. I know the problem they had was with November 30, as opposed to November 25, which I put forward as a date.
Because it's such a priority of the government, maybe we should move the date forward rather than moving it to the 30th. Maybe the members across the way were so anxious to get started with this examination that they couldn't wait until November 30, so I'm giving them an alternative.
Thank you.
6:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
Who is next on the list? I have Mr. Fergus, Mr. Dusseault, and Mr. Albas.
6:30 p.m.
Liberal
6:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
Okay. There is no debate on this motion either.
(Motion agreed to: yeas 5; nays 4)
The meeting is adjourned.
