Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, colleagues.
When the government of the time announced this measure in budget 2021, it described these measures as essential for “ensuring that corporations in all sectors, including digital corporations, pay their fair share of tax on the money they earn by doing business in Canada.”
We all know that the Donald Trump administration objected, and shortly after that, our government pledged to abandon that measure entirely. Leaving aside the question of having to deal with Mr. Trump—we have great empathy for any government that has to do that—I would argue that this is not the best policy.
The digital services tax was specifically designed to ensure that the largest U.S. tech giants—companies like those led by Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg—contribute fairly to the money they earn from the Canadian economy. The Parliamentary Budget Officer estimated that it would raise $7.2 billion over five years. It's revenue that we think could be used to support public services, infrastructure and programs that Canadians rely on.
In conclusion, we believe that adopting this measure means that we are walking away from billions of dollars of revenue and giving up a tool meant to level the playing field for Canadian tech businesses, all without really achieving any benefit for Canada in return. I would respectfully request that my colleagues defeat this provision of the budget.