I'm sorry, but you had the floor and I respected you, Monsieur Masse. Now I would like to be respected too.
Thank you.
My riding, like yours, Mr. Lewis, is rural. So it is very important to me that we invest in our tradespeople. In that regard, I fully support you. It's so important to address the labour shortages in the construction trades.
That is why I supported the labour mobility deduction, which is capped at $4,000. However, the deduction you propose would be unlimited. It could be up to $100,000 or whatever. As a tax practitioner who advocates prudent management of government spending, I believe that taxation must have safeguards and that it is crucial to protect its integrity.
I congratulate you anyway, because I fully share these values of protecting the rights of workers and allowing them to deduct these expenses from their salaries. However, as we say back home, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. As a tax professional, I have concerns.
You said earlier that Canadians who go to work in the United States only pay taxes in the United States. Excuse me, I'm going to put my tax hat on again to tell you that's not true. Article XV of the Convention between Canada and the United States of America allows Canadians to work in the United States and pay their taxes in Canada in certain circumstances.
In fact, your bill would allow Canadian workers to go to work on American job sites. This would mean that we would lose tradespeople for our own work sites here in Canada. Unfortunately, I find this to be a flaw in your bill that should be corrected.
I am also concerned that there would be an unlimited deduction in addition to the $4,000 deduction, which would allow workers to double dip. This is another flaw in your bill. You have to choose one of the two deductions; you can't choose both.
Actually, there's even a triple deduction. I know the Conservatives like triples. Indeed, the employer could reimburse the employee and deduct that expense from their own profits, which would be a third deduction. You offset the allowance, but not the expense reimbursement. This triple deduction is another flaw in your bill, which is absolutely well-intentioned, I repeat. I would support it if it were fiscally prudent, but it threatens the very integrity of our tax system by allowing very significant loopholes.
Do you have any comments on these three loopholes that concern me, as a tax professional, as well as the potential exodus of workers to U.S. construction sites?