Debates of Dec. 14th, 2010

National Defence

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for his tremendous service to this country in uniform. I would, however, ask him again why he is abandoning those who are currently in uniform who need this aircraft. Why is he abandoning the Canadian aerospace industry? In particular, why is he abandoning a company like Héroux-Devtek, which is currently operating in the Montreal area? It says that they enthusiastically support the Government of Canada's decision to purchase the F-35 joint strike fighters. The program, based on our partnership with nine nations, originating in 1997, will provide thousands—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

The hon. member for Laurier—Sainte-Marie.

Canada Revenue Agency

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the story involving Canada Revenue Agency employees and Tony Accurso is extremely murky, and the government is doing nothing to clarify matters. Yet six employees have been fired, three have been suspended, an auditor has been beaten up and many other investigations are under way. The numbers are starting to add up to a lot of people for a series of isolated cases.

Will the Prime Minister put an end to all the secrecy and give us an answer? Is there a ring? How many people are involved in this affair?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, this government will not tolerate any misconduct by Canada Revenue Agency employees, such as the cases brought to light by this investigation. Our government supports this investigation and will see to it that the CRA co-operates fully.

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is determined to say nothing. But we are not asking for details about individual cases. We want the straight goods, especially since the integrity commissioner was recently accused of not doing her job properly.

Can the Prime Minister at least give us an idea of where things stand right now? Is there a ring, yes or no?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, an investigation is under way and the RCMP has been informed. As I just said, this misconduct is totally unacceptable, and our government will deal with this situation.

Financial Institutions

[Daniel Paillé, Bloc, Hochelaga, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in the Standing Committee on Finance, representatives from the Department of Finance restated their decision not to ask the banks to close their subsidiaries in tax havens, as France has done. What is more, these officials confirmed that by using tax havens the banks saved $1.5 billion in 2009.

Why is the Minister of Finance attacking low income workers, but allowing his banker friends to save $1.5 billion by using tax havens? Let the Minister of Finance answer.

[Keith Ashfield, Conservative, Minister of National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, the CRA has made a decision to focus on aggressive audit efforts to find the money that is hiding in offshore accounts rather than study it.

The Prime Minister and the government have taken decisive action to give CRA the tools and resources it needs to aggressively pursue those Canadians who avoid paying their taxes.

Last year alone CRA uncovered $1 billion in unpaid taxes internationally, nearly eight times the amount uncovered during the last years of the Liberals.

Canada-Panama Free Trade Agreement

[Jean-Yves Laforest, Bloc, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in the Standing Committee on International Trade, the Conservative and Liberal members refused not once, but twice to have a tax information exchange agreement signed before implementing the Canada-Panama Free Trade Agreement.

How can the Conservative government continue to promote an agreement that will contribute to decreasing its tax revenue but increase the profits of white collar criminals who evade taxes?

[Peter Van Loan, Conservative, Minister of International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, our free trade agreement with Panama does nothing of the sort. What it does is help us achieve our objective of focusing on Canada's economy, on creating economic opportunities for Canadians, on creating job opportunities for Canadians.

That is what our ambitious free trade agenda is doing. We have entered into free trade agreements with eight countries since we formed the government. The result is more opportunities for Canadians, for jobs and for economic growth.

That is why we are continuing to negotiate with the European Union for a very ambitious free trade agreement with them. Again our focus is jobs and prosperity for Canadians.

Taxation

[Jack Layton, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in 2008 in the middle of the worst recession that we have seen in a long, long time, the Prime Minister took to the airwaves to tell Canadians that they should take advantage of buying opportunities on the stock market.

Now, as Canadians are overwhelmed with debt, historic household debt, the Prime Minister waves his finger at Canadians and just tells them to stop borrowing.

Talk about being out of touch with the reality that Canadians are facing. But it is not too late to act. He can take one practical step today.

Will the Prime Minister agree to remove the federal tax off home heating?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, of course, the economy remains the number one priority of Canadians and of this government.

This government has taken a number of actions to encourage savings, such as the tax free savings account, and a number of measures to assure access to credit but also to encourage sound borrowing by consumers.

This government will continue to take actions where it is necessary to do so.

[Jack Layton, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are drowning in debt, but the Prime Minister is blaming them, saying they must have gotten into debt because of the recession. That is unacceptable.

There are practical solutions for helping people. For example, home heating in Canada is not a luxury.

Why does the government not work with us to eliminate federal tax on home heating?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, this government has lowered the tax by 2%, not just on heating, but on all consumer goods. Unfortunately, the New Democratic Party voted against lowering consumer taxes. I am sure the NDP will keep doing such things in future. This government will be lowering consumer taxes.

[Jack Layton, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are living under a mountain of crushing debt right now.

People are borrowing money because they are out of work, and that is because the quality jobs that they need and that would allow them to get out of debt are not available.

Conservatives promised to make life more affordable, but instead they made decisions to put in payroll taxes and to impose an HST. Seniors, students and people out of work are not borrowing for fun; they are borrowing to get by.

When will the Prime Minister stop insulting Canadians and take—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

Order, the right hon. Prime Minister.

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, of course it is the NDP and its opposition coalition colleagues who want to raise the GST back up two percentage points.

It is the NDP and its opposition friends who want to raise the taxes on employers in this country. It is the NDP and its opposition friends who want to have EI premiums raised 60% so people can work a 45-day work year.

This is the government that has cut taxes and cut costs for Canadians so they can cope with the recession. Canadians know that if they want their taxes lowered, it is the Conservative Party—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

Order, the hon. member for Kings—Hants.

The Economy

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the Governor of the Bank of Canada has warned that today's record level of mortgage and household debt is threatening the Canadian economy.

But the finance minister is dithering, saying, “...the situation is not urgent...”.

Why will the minister not take the Governor of the Bank of Canada seriously? Does the minister now regret his decision in 2006 to bring in 40-year mortgages with no down payments?

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, we clearly do not want Canadians over-extended.

With respect to residential mortgages, which is what I think the member is referencing, twice we have tightened the rules for residential mortgages, insured mortgages, once in 2008 and earlier this year in 2010.

If the rules need to be tightened again, we will do so.

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

Mr. Speaker, that from the minister who loosened the rules to begin with.

The Economist magazine and the Bank of Canada are united in their warning that Canadian families are at risk because of serious debt and housing bubbles.

Can we trust this minister today when he says, “Don't worry; be happy”, when in fact he is the minister who helped cause the problem by loosening the rules to begin with? He is the minister who helped create not only a national deficit that is at record levels at $56 billion but also record high personal debt levels with his crazy mortgage rule changes.

[Jim Flaherty, Conservative, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite can trust the government to continue to take responsible action, as we have done.

We set up the financial literacy task force. We introduced credit card reform and a voluntary code of conduct with respect to credit cards. As I indicated, we have tightened the insured mortgage rules twice. Of course, we have encouraged Canadians to save through the tax-free savings accounts, and many thousands of Canadians have taken advantage of that.

Health

[Ujjal Dosanjh, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, in 1997, the Prime Minister said, “It's past time the feds scrapped the Canada Health Act”.

In 2005, just before he took power, he said that two-tier health care “would be a good idea”.

The Conservatives deny the federal government's role and speak openly about transferring tax points to the provinces. That would kill the Canada Health Act. The Prime Minister has done nothing since 2006 except flow the 2004 accord dollars to the provinces.

Does the Prime Minister believe he has a role in standing up for public health in Canada?

[Leona Aglukkaq, Conservative, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, again, our government is committed to a universal public health care system. We support the law of the land, which is the Canada Health Act.

We will continue to work with the provinces and territories, and our government will continue to transfer budgets, increasing by 6% per year to an all time high of $25 billion so that they can continue to meet the health care needs of their residents.

[Ujjal Dosanjh, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, that means the government will do nothing more.

In his firewall letter in 2001, the Prime Minister wrote that each province should raise its own revenue for health care, replace Canada health and social transfer cash with tax points.

The tea party leader from Beauce advocated transferring the tax points to the provinces, and Brian Mulroney recently argued for some form of user fees. That would make it an open season for privatization and user fees.

Will the Prime Minister tell us what he really believes about the federal role in health care and his penchant for privatization?