Evidence of meeting #150 for Finance in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was approach.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
If I may, I believe what the minister said in her remarks, Mr. Dusseault, was that in 2016-17, related to offshore-related files, there were 37 convictions, 50 years in jail terms, and $10 million in fines. As of March 2018, there are still 42 cases being criminally investigated.
Am I correct in those figures, so that we' dealing with the same figures?
Liberal
NDP
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
Thirty-seven convictions offshore, and there are 42 cases offshore that are being criminally investigated.
NDP
Pierre-Luc Dusseault NDP Sherbrooke, QC
But she said the 37 are not offshore. She said it's only tax evasion.
Assistant Commissioner, International, Large Business and Investigations Branch, Canada Revenue Agency
Can I...?
Assistant Commissioner, International, Large Business and Investigations Branch, Canada Revenue Agency
The 37 for the prior year weren't 100% related to offshore. It was a mixture, because those are files that were started many years in the past. The number 42 is our current number of offshore-related criminal investigations open today. Those files will take many years to close. When we report results in 2022-23, you'll see the ratio of offshore to domestic being much higher.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
You can't tell us, of the 37, how many are offshore and how many aren't. That data isn't available.
Assistant Commissioner, International, Large Business and Investigations Branch, Canada Revenue Agency
The majority would have been domestic.
Liberal
Francesco Sorbara Liberal Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Welcome, Minister.
Before I get into the one or two questions I'd like to ask the Minister, I'd like to congratulate you and the other ministers in trade and finance for your work. Yesterday we received some really good news on our economy, and it lends well to national revenue, CRA, and how we operate and attract foreign direct investment. We moved up three spots. The A.T. Kearney report came out of ranking countries worldwide in terms of foreign direct investment, and we're number two behind the United States, but we are ahead of many other countries including Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, and so forth. That was great work by you and the ministers around that table. It's great to see Canada getting the recognition that it deserves in terms of the work that our government has done over these last three years.
I'd like to commend your department in terms of making it easy for Canadians to file online and also for the CVIT program in terms of bringing local tax preparers into offices across the country. It's been a great program for my constituents, and many have taken advantage of it. I think we've done about 100 tax filings for low-income Canadian seniors and so forth.
My question—and I'll ask it in French—concerns tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance.
How have investments in the last three budgets allowed the agency to better target offshore tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance?
Liberal
Diane Lebouthillier Liberal Gaspésie—Les-Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC
I thank my colleague for his question.
The last three budgets have really allowed us to create a whole structure to deal with tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance. As I mentioned, tackling aggressive tax avoidance was not at all a Conservative priority. In fact, Mr. Jean-Pierre Blackburn, a former Minister of National Revenue, even said publicly that this was not a priority for the Conservative government.
Our government is really the one that has invested the most in fighting aggressive tax avoidance. I had the opportunity to meet with our OECD partners in Paris during the winter. The OECD commended us for the agency’s exceptional work. In the fall, Canada will even host the second OECD meeting on large businesses.
Liberal
Francesco Sorbara Liberal Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON
May I ask a follow-up question, Chair?
Thank you.
What leadership role has Canada played internationally to ensure the compliance of multinationals?
Liberal
Diane Lebouthillier Liberal Gaspésie—Les-Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC
I would ask Mr. Gallivan to give you some technical details on that.
Assistant Commissioner, International, Large Business and Investigations Branch, Canada Revenue Agency
Thank you. As the minister alluded, Canada leads a large business network for the OECD, and there are two areas where we've expressed that leadership. First, regarding the country-by-country reports, which is an automatic exchange of information of the global activities of multinationals to be shared with countries around the world, Canada coordinated the work of the OECD to provide guidance on the effective and appropriate use of that information. It was a major global initiative affecting the taxation of multinationals. Canada was holding the pen on the procedures for how to use that information.
The second is the risk assessment of multinationals. As the minister mentioned, one of the key controls we have is the ability to assess the risk of the 1,200 multinationals operating in Canada every single year. We spent 400 hours. We have a very sophisticated IT system that new funding is helping us enhance, and we're basically helping the world understand that, see how to assess the risk of multinationals, and decide which need a deeper dive from the audit function.
Conservative
Pat Kelly Conservative Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB
Minister, have you completed the review of all of the disability tax credit applications that were declined in 2017, in particular after the change in the May 2 letter?
Liberal
Diane Lebouthillier Liberal Gaspésie—Les-Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC
I thank my colleague for his question.
I know full well that living with a disability is very complicated, for the person with the disability, and for the family living with that person. I want to make it clear that the act has not been amended. Exactly the same law applies.
The review we are conducting is drawing to a close. We will submit the data to the committee—I’m talking about the committee you abolished in 2006 and which was reinstated—at its next meeting. Then I’d be happy to provide you with that information.
Conservative
Pat Kelly Conservative Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB
When do you think that will happen? When is the meeting scheduled?
Liberal
Diane Lebouthillier Liberal Gaspésie—Les-Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC
The next meeting of the committee is scheduled for May 28.
Conservative
Liberal
Diane Lebouthillier Liberal Gaspésie—Les-Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC
Committee members will be the first to receive that information from us. We can send it to you after that.
We do this out of respect for the committee members who are involved, who are dedicated to working on this update and who provide us with recommendations on the disability tax credit.