Evidence of meeting #45 for Finance in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was subamendment.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Ryan Turnbull Liberal Whitby, ON
I have a point of order, Madam Chair.
I believe that might have been unparliamentary language from Mr. Hallan. I don't think committee members would use that type of language under the rules of decorum, and those do apply to committee, as I understand.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Karina Gould
Thank you, Mr. Turnbull.
I'd just like to remind Mr. Hallan to remain parliamentary in his approach.
Thank you.
Conservative
Jasraj Singh Hallan Conservative Calgary East, AB
I'll leave it at that. Under the Liberal government, the TFW program, as well as the entire immigration system, has been broken. As much transparency as we can get, especially for the TFW program, which has been abused extensively—
Liberal
Ryan Turnbull Liberal Whitby, ON
I have a point of order, Madam Chair.
The point of order is on relevance. The TFW program has nothing to do with EI benefits for seasonal workers.
Thanks.
Conservative
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Karina Gould
Shall the subamendment to CPC-11 carry?
(Subamendment negatived: nays 7; yeas 4)
We will go back to the main motion.
Mr. Jackson, go ahead.
Thank you.
Conservative
Grant Jackson Conservative Brandon—Souris, MB
You're welcome, Chair. Thank you.
I'm going to try this again. I believe I have been subbed back in now.
I have another subamendment that I hope will address some of the government members' concerns with regard to the overall amendment, so I'll move that and then provide some commentary, as I believe the floor remains with me after the subamendment has been moved.
As a subamendment, I move that the amendment be amended by adding a paragraph (d) to proposed subsection 12(2.31) as follows: “(d) The number of positions in the regions referred to in paragraph (b) for which a positive labour market impact assessment was issued under the temporary foreign worker program in that fiscal year.”
That, again, comes back to the issue of the labour market impact with respect to the overall provisions within the clause.
Liberal
Ryan Turnbull Liberal Whitby, ON
I have a point of order.
Again, the temporary foreign worker program has nothing to do with the measure here, which has to do with seasonal workers and the Employment Insurance Act, and benefits that they are entitled to.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Karina Gould
Thank you, Mr. Turnbull.
Mr. Jackson, that amendment is inadmissible. It doesn't have anything to do with the amendment at hand.
We'll return to CPC-11, then.
(Amendment negatived: nays 6; yeas 5)
(Clause 38 agreed to on division)
(Clause 39 agreed to on division)
(On clause 40)
We will move on to CPC-12.
Conservative
Conservative
Pat Kelly Conservative Calgary Crowfoot, AB
I move CPC-12 that Bill C-30, in clause 40, be amended by replacing line 9 on page 21 with the following:
nor in Council, which day must not be earlier than the day on which the Minister of Employment and Social Development tables a report in each House of Parliament on the application of paragraph 12(2.3)(b) of the Employment Insurance Act during the 12-month period ending on March 31 of the year in which the report is to be tabled.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Karina Gould
Thank you, Mr. Kelly.
Bill C-30 includes a coming into force provision for the subsections of the Employment Insurance Act that are amended by the bill. The amendment seeks to impose a condition on the coming into force clause. As House of Commons Procedure and Practice, fourth edition, states in section 16.81, “An amendment intended to alter the coming into force clause of a bill, making it conditional, is out of order since it exceeds the scope of the bill and attempts to introduce a new question into it.”
It is the opinion of the chair that the introduction of a condition to the coming into force clause is beyond the scope of the bill. Therefore, the chair is of the opinion that this amendment is inadmissible.
Mr. Hallan, go ahead.
Conservative
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Karina Gould
We will have a recorded division on that.
(Ruling of the chair sustained: yeas 6; nays 5)
(Clause 40 agreed to on division)
(Clauses 41 to 43 agreed to on division)
We'll move on to CPC-13.
Mr. Kelly, go ahead.
Conservative
Pat Kelly Conservative Calgary Crowfoot, AB
I move that Bill C-30 be amended by adding after line 18 on page 22 the following new clause:
Reports to Parliament
43.1 (1) Within three months after the day on which this section comes into force, the Minister of Finance must prepare a report on the projected impact of the amendments to the Canada Pension Plan contained in this Division on the financial state of the Canada Pension Plan and on contribution rates.
(2) The Minister of Finance must cause the report to be tabled in each House of Parliament on any of the first 15 days on which that House is sitting after the report is completed.
(3) Five years after the day on which the report is tabled under subsection (2), the Minister of Finance must prepare a report on the impact of the amendments to the Canada Pension Plan contained in this Division on the financial state of the Canada Pension Plan and on contribution rates.
(4) The Minister of Finance must cause the report to be tabled in each House of Parliament on any of the first 15 days on which that House is sitting after the report is completed.
Conservative
Liberal
Liberal
Ryan Turnbull Liberal Whitby, ON
Yes, be careful with that body language.
Existing CPP legislation already has a legal requirement for the chief actuary to prepare a report on the financial state of the Canada pension plan, so these amendments are again duplicative. They are not necessary, because it is already a statutory requirement for the chief actuary to do this.
The last report, the 33rd actuarial report on the Canada pension plan, was tabled in Parliament on June 8, 2026. I don't know what today is, but I think it's June 8 so the report was actually tabled as of today.
The point here is that the next actuarial report will be, I believe, in three years. It reports on the state of the plan every three years, so it will be tabled in the fall of 2028.
I will just note that the reduction in CPP contributions was the result of an actuarial report that showed that some Canadians—well, all Canadians who contribute—were slightly overcontributing, that the health of the plan was in good shape and that we could reduce the contributions by a small amount. This is exactly what the government has done. It affects employers and the members of the plan equally, because they make equal contributions.
This is good news for Canadian workers and is something that Conservatives have pointed to in the past, so I would think that we're already there in terms of reporting requirements. Given the rationale that I've provided here, I would humbly ask the Conservatives to withdraw this amendment, because it just doesn't make sense to require something that's already legally required.
Conservative
Pat Kelly Conservative Calgary Crowfoot, AB
Perhaps the finance officials could weigh in on this and answer some of the questions.
Galen Countryman Director General, Federal-Provincial Relations, Department of Finance
Thank you very much.
Conservative
Pat Kelly Conservative Calgary Crowfoot, AB
Thank you very much, Mr. Countryman, for being with us tonight and being available to answer questions from parliamentarians.
The amendment that we've proposed calls for reports within certain time frames. The time frames we are calling for are that within three months after the day on which the proposed section comes into force, the Minister of Finance must prepare a report on the projected impacts of the amendments to the CPP contained in this division, and furthermore, that the Minister of Finance must cause the report to be tabled in each House on any of the first 15 days. Also, five years after the day on which the report is tabled, the minister must prepare a report on the impact, and the Minister of Finance must cause the report to be tabled in each House within 15 days.
Are the current practices of the Department of Finance contained within all four of the amendments that we proposed tonight?