Transport Committee on Nov. 6th, 2025

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Kennebecasis, NB]

I don't have that number.

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

I have the answer, Mr. Secretary of State.

Only one company has been convicted of tax fraud in the last five years. That was in 2021. Since then, from 2021 to today, there have been no convictions. No new trucking companies have been convicted of tax evasion.

Do you think that's normal?

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Mr. Long, you have 10 seconds to answer the question.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Kennebecasis, NB]

I think the first step for us is to actually lift the moratorium. We're doing that. We're allocating resources to CRA.

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

I asked you whether you think it's normal for the Canada Revenue Agency to be reporting such results so far.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you, Mr. Barsalou‑Duval.

Thank you very much, Secretary of State.

Next we'll go to Mr. Lawrence.

Mr. Lawrence, the floor is yours, and you have five minutes.

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Clarke, ON]

Thank you.

Thank you, Minister, for being here.

I want to carry on from where my Bloc colleague left off in talking about some of the investigative work. Even though new monies have been announced in the budget, there were actually monies announced in 2023 for a similar project—$23 million over five years, which equates to about $5 million per year.

We received testimony earlier that there were 129 successful reclassifications, each of which cost $77,000. What would be the goal of the average cost of a reclassification from these additional monies being announced?

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Kennebecasis, NB]

I would say this. If you want to look at just cost versus benefits, you'll see that we're going to invest $77 million over four years, and then $19.2 million for the years after that. This will produce additional revenue of $160 million. I'm very comfortable—

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Clarke, ON]

On that, Minister, how much additional revenue has the reclassification created over the two years that have gone by?

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Kennebecasis, NB]

Can you repeat that question?

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Clarke, ON]

You've already been at this for two years. You spent $10 million in the last two fiscal years reclassifying drivers; you have 129. How much money has been generated for the treasury?

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Kennebecasis, NB]

I would say that I'm very comfortable with what the CRA is doing and with the compliance actions it is taking.

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Clarke, ON]

I realize that, and I don't want to be rude, but I did ask a specific question. You've made projections, so you must know what you've done so far. How much is that? I just want a number.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Kennebecasis, NB]

I think the fact that we're making this measure and we're taking this investment of $77 million over four years to ramp up compliance, to catch bad actors...we are projecting $160 million—

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Clarke, ON]

How much over the last two years have you generated from the reclassification efforts, where you spent $10 million?

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Kennebecasis, NB]

What we're doing will work. I think we will level the playing field. I think that once and for all we're going to actually—

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Clarke, ON]

Minister, how many reclassifications will you accomplish over the next five years? It's all good to hear about money being spent, but if it's accomplishing nothing, it's of no value.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Kennebecasis, NB]

I would reject the premise of that—the fact that you would say it's accomplishing nothing. The actions we're taking in budget 2025 are huge. I think they're—

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Clarke, ON]

How many reclassifications will the $77 million account for?

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Kennebecasis, NB]

What we're doing shows that we will produce more revenue than the expense, and the fact that we're going to—

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Clarke, ON]

Mr. Long, what's the difference between an independent contractor and an employee?

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Kennebecasis, NB]

The fact that we're going to actually put $77 million—

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Clarke, ON]

Mr. Long, what's the difference between an employee and—

[Mike Kelloway, Liberal, Sydney—Glace Bay, NS]

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

Just very quickly—and this is not to disturb the questions—but I think we're at a point now where the interpreters are going to have a hard time. I wonder if we could ask a question and then answer a question.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Mr. Lawrence, I'm going to add 15 seconds here just so that you can ensure the responses....

I would like to ask all members to ensure that we're giving witnesses a chance to respond, to the benefit and health of our interpreters.

Thank you.