Finance Committee on July 20th, 2021

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I must say that I'm very pleased to see Mr. Maguire here. He certainly deserves the credit for bringing forward Bill C-208. As other members have also said, though, Monsieur Emmanuel Dubourg from the Liberal caucus also brought forward something very similar, as have the Bloc and the NDP over the course of the last many years.

Mr. Maguire, you also mentioned that this issue has been discussed and debated for the last 20 years. For 10 of them, there was a Conservative majority, during which time the Conservative government of the day could have brought forward these measures.

I have a few questions for Mr. McGowan.

Since this morning, people have been bringing up Quebec and the integrity measures in place there. I was wondering whether you were inspired by anything in particular. Also, could any of Quebec's rules be implemented countrywide?

Talk about that, if you would, Mr. McGowan.

[Trevor McGowan]

Certainly, we've gone through the Quebec intergenerational business transfer rules. They provided a great source of inspiration for the work we're currently doing on them. Some of that is probably reflected in the bullets in the July 19 press release. It is certainly a made-in-Canada set of rules to deal with issues that are the same or similar to what we're talking about right now.

It's absolutely been an important source of inspiration. I mean, we've heard about technical questions relating to the Quebec rules and the impact of Bill C-208, but I'm not an expert on Quebec's provincial tax, so I can't really comment on that sort of thing.

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

Thank you, Mr. McGowan.

As a proud Quebecker, I am always pleased when Quebec leads the way for the rest of the country. You mentioned the integrity measures, of course, but Quebec's child care system is another example.

If I may, Mr. Chair, I'd like to give the rest of my time to Ms. Dzerowicz.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Ms. Dzerowicz.

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Thank you.

I want to continue with my colleague's comment about how we very much care about the intergenerational issue. I want to put two things on the record and then ask my question.

First, in budget 2019, we said the following:

The Government understands the importance Canadian farmers, fishers and other business owners place on being able to pass their businesses on to their children. The Government will continue its outreach to farmers, fishers and other business owners throughout 2019 to develop new proposals to better accommodate intergenerational transfers of businesses while protecting the integrity and fairness of the tax system.

As well, the December 13, 2019, mandate letter for the Minister of Finance lists it as a top priority to work with the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food “on tax measures to facilitate the intergenerational transfer of farms”.

It is a huge issue for us; it has been an issue for us, and it continues to be an issue for us.

My question is with regard to something that I think you mentioned, Mr. McGowan. You said that a number of amendments are being looked at. I very much took to heart the presentations we had this morning, where we directly had representatives from the Canadian Federation of Agriculture and from the Fédération de la relève agricole du Québec.

As we're making some of those amendments, they very much asked for direct involvement in consultation with the grassroots, not just within the farming sector. I think our chair sort of expanded on that, saying that there are other stakeholder key groups that would want to provide input. The very clear message we heard this morning was that it's not a "one size fits all” in terms of addressing the tax loophole solutions.

I would like to inquire as to whether or not there will be some direct connections with these key stakeholders on the amendments that are being proposed.

[Trevor McGowan]

I don't know that we can comment on the government's communications strategy beyond what was put out in the July 19 news release. I don't know that we have any details to share on that right now.

I don't know, Mio, if you have anything to add.

[Miodrag Jovanovic]

I would just add that any stakeholder can decide to approach the Department of Finance. We would be very happy to sit with them and hear what they have to tell us. We don't need a formal consultation process to do that. We do that all the time. We never say no to a meeting with stakeholders.

A more informed discussion will obviously be coming once the draft legislative proposals are out for consultation, for sure, but that doesn't prevent stakeholders from getting in touch with the department.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you, all.

The last section goes to Mr. Kelly.

[Pat Kelly, Conservative, Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB]

Thank you. I don't have a question. I know that we're down to just the last few minutes.

I move that the committee invite the Minister of Finance to appear within two weeks of passing this motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

It is an allowable motion and it is on the floor.

I don't see any discussion.

(Motion agreed to)

All right. The request will go to the minister.

With that, on behalf of the committee, I want to thank the officials from Finance and from the law branch for appearing before the committee today. As we know, it is sometimes difficult to sort out where you guys are at from the political side of the coin. We appreciate your efforts in terms of appearing before the committee today.

As well, as I think was said by members earlier from probably all parties, we very much appreciate your efforts during the last year as we went through this pandemic. For your advice to government, your working day and night to assist Canadians in getting us through the pandemic, and your trying to leave us in a position where the economy can go forward, I sincerely thank you on behalf of the committee. Thank you for your efforts there and for your appearance today.

With that, the meeting is adjourned.