Thank you, Madam Chair.
Good morning, colleagues. It's a pleasure to join you.
Thank you for inviting me to appear before you and to discuss Bill C-31, a second act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on November 4, 2025.
As you are well aware, Canadians continue to face affordability pressures amid an uncertain economic environment, now intensified by new U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods, disrupted global energy supplies and other quickly evolving geopolitical dynamics. The good news, Madam Chair, which you would have seen, is that today the Canada groceries and essentials benefit instalments will be paid, going into the bank accounts of more than 12 million Canadians and helping them to face affordability pressure.
As you would also have seen, our government has taken multiple actions to strengthen Canada's economic resilience, support Canadian workers and businesses, and attract the investment needed to grow our economy and create jobs, as Canadians would expect us to do.
Bill C‑31 helps us shift from ambition to action. It proposes tangible measures to make life more affordable for Canadians today, while creating the conditions to allow businesses to invest, expand and create good jobs here, at home, in Canada.
It is a plan to make Canada the best place to invest, build and create jobs.
We have introduced a number of measures to strengthen tax fairness and integrity, as I'm sure colleagues have seen, in the bill.
Madam Chair, the global challenges we face underscore the importance of encouraging investment, economic growth and competitiveness in Canada. Bill C-31 accomplishes this, in part by taking action on a number of important and targeted tax incentives. For example, the bill would provide temporary immediate expensing for eligible manufacturing and processing buildings—as we call it, the productivity superdeduction. I'm sure every member of this committee has paid attention to that, because this is one of the key elements to create an investment supercycle in our country.
It has been applauded by a number of key business leaders, both here in Canada and around the world. The goal is to allow businesses to recover the cost of new facilities more quickly, strengthening Canada's industrial capacity and encouraging businesses to expand and create jobs here at home. This is a real catalyst to create the kind of investment that we want to see. Madam Chair, as we have said—and I think this committee has been working to look at the productivity and innovation in our country—this is really one tool to achieve that and, as I said, it has been applauded by a number of commentators.
A few weeks ago we decided to go even further, as we have seen, with the productivity mega deduction. The message cannot be clearer: Businesses are looking for places to invest, build new facilities—as we've seen recently with LNG Canada phase two—and create jobs. Canada intends to be at the top of the list, and we have seen many projects being announced recently in our country. We're backing that ambition with targeted support for the industries and technologies that will drive the next generation of growth.
The bill also proposes to expand the investment tax credit for clean hydrogen to include hydrogen produced through methane pyrolysis. This will help attract investment and emerging technologies, and strengthen Canada's clean energy sector.
Bill C‑31 is also about making our tax system fairer.
It includes measures to address inappropriate tax schemes, prevent tax avoidance and limit tax deferral on investment income through multi-tiered corporate structures. I especially want to thank Ms. Lavoie, who has done critical work in this area at the Department of Finance.
The bill also proposes the implementation of new rules requiring certain crypto platforms to report their users' transactions to tax authorities to increase transparency and counteract tax evasion.
Furthermore, amendments to the Global Minimum Tax Act will implement the undertaxed profits rule as part of the broader OECD-led international tax framework.
Taken together, these measures promote growth, fairness and competitiveness across the Canadian economy while ensuring the integrity of our tax system.
Madam Chair, I know my time is limited. I want to say this: The key message we have for Canadians is that we're there for you. We know that affordability is top of mind for everyone watching—the price of food, the price of rent, the price of gas. As you will see in my two hours of testimony today, we've been acting on all fronts to support Canadians.
With that, it would be a pleasure to answer questions from my colleagues. Thank you.
