Debates of Nov. 27th, 2013

Ethics

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, Senator Carolyn Stewart Olsen publicly denied that she was ever told by the Prime Minister's Office to change the Senate report on Mike Duffy. According to the RCMP:

...Senator Stewart Olsen's version of events to police was incomplete, and not consistent with the facts.

In other words, she was not telling what we call the truth. Why is Carolyn Stewart Olsen still sitting in the Conservative caucus?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, it was Mr. Duffy who made claims about having repaid inappropriate expenses. Those claims were completely untrue. The fact of the matter was that Mr. Wright had paid those expenses on his behalf. As those two individuals did not properly disclose that information, they are the ones responsible. That is why they are under investigation and why we have taken the appropriate actions.

Taxation

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, another Conservative insider, Jim Love, was appointed chair of the Royal Canadian Mint in 2006, and appointed as a tax policy adviser by his buddy, the Minister of Finance, in 2007.

Mr. Love has just been organizing a “tax avoidance scheme” to hide millions of dollars in offshore tax havens. Why has he not been fired yet?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, what the hon. member is referring to is, of course, a dispute between two private parties before a court. I am obviously not going to comment on that.

What I am going to point out is the record of the government when it comes to combatting offshore tax evasion and tax cheats. Since this party came to office, we have identified over $4.5 billion of such funds that are recoverable by the Government of Canada.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, why did the government give a plum job to someone who was to act as a tax adviser on policy for the Conservatives when they knew, or ought to have known, that he was organizing stratagems so that rich Conservative families would not pay their taxes?

How can they justify that?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, as I just said, under this government, the Canada Revenue Agency has identified over $4.5 billion recoverable to the taxpayers of Canada.

Every single year, we bring forward in the House areas where we have identified the possibility of inappropriate tax avoidance and tax evasion to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars a year. That is the real reason the NDP votes against those measures every single year.

Ethics

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister continues to puzzle Canadians with his support of Irving Gerstein in the Senate. The senator repeatedly tried to intervene in blocking an audit. He tried to offer donor money to pay off Mike Duffy's expenses, which would have violated three sections of the Criminal Code, yet the Prime Minister continues to support Mr. Gerstein, continues to defend him and will not even answer the questions posed to him about Senator Gerstein.

Why is the Prime Minister still defending him?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I simply point out what the real issue here is. The real issue is that Senator Duffy made inappropriate expense claims and claimed publicly that he had repaid them, when he knew that was not the case. It was in fact Mr. Wright who repaid them, and Mr. Wright and Mr. Duffy did not properly disclose this transaction. When we became aware of that, we made sure that it was reported publicly.

We have taken the appropriate action, and it is those two individuals who are under investigation for this particular affair.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the issue is that the Prime Minister has repeatedly pretended that if he had known about what was going on, he would have acted on what was going on.

Now we know, because of the RCMP's investigation, that Irving Gerstein certainly knew and was involved in everything that was going on. Instead of having consequences for Mr. Gerstein, the Prime Minister continues to keep him in his caucus, continues to allow him to sit as chair of the Senate banking committee, and still has him in charge of all of their donor money.

Why does the Prime Minister continue to have confidence in Irving Gerstein?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, once again, not only have I said that I did not know about this particular transaction, but as soon as I became aware, we made sure that it was reported publicly. We have also made sure that all investigators have received the relevant information. That is why these two individuals are under investigation, as they should be, and we will continue to assist.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister now knows that, according to the RCMP report, Irving Gerstein was very much involved in this affair, he tried to block the Deloitte audit and he also offered to pay Mike Duffy's expenses with Conservative donor money. Nevertheless, the Prime Minister continues to defend Mr. Gerstein and refuses to criticize him.

Can the Prime Minister explain why he continues to defend Senator Gerstein?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal Party leader's statements are false. The RCMP did not say that. It said that two individuals are under investigation for an inappropriate payment. We are co-operating with this investigation, and we have taken appropriate action against these individuals.

Taxation

[Murray Rankin, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the chair of the Royal Canadian Mint's board of directors, who was appointed by the Conservatives, is suspected of using tax havens to transfer funds, advising clients on how best to use these tax havens and engaging in tax evasion to avoid taxes here.

Who, in this government, was aware of Jim Love's activities? Will the government launch an independent investigation into his activities?

[Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Conservative, Minister of National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, as has been already stated, the case reported in the media is a dispute between two private parties.

Our government has a strong record when it comes to combatting offshore tax evasion and cracking down on tax cheats. Since we came to office, the Canada Revenue Agency has identified over $4.5 billion by cracking down on these cheats. This is in stark contrast, by the way, to the mere $174 million identified in the last year of the Liberal government.

[Murray Rankin, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I note the minister says it has identified money. How much has it actually collected? It is Conservatives who cut the organized crime unit of the Canada Revenue Agency, cut investigators looking to catch tax cheats and then expanded a tax on charities.

Jim Love, a Conservative friend and insider, chair of the board at the mint, is now facing allegations of helping clients use offshore tax havens. Why? It is to avoid paying Canadian taxes.

This is about tax fairness. It is also about billions of dollars in lost taxes. When will the Minister of Finance stand up to his well-connected friends and take action to stop these tax--

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

The hon. Minister of National Revenue.

[Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Conservative, Minister of National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, the suggestion that we are resisting any efforts to combat tax evasion, of course, is categorically false. The decision to transfer the special enforcement program into the regular audit program was made entirely by CRA officials based on their assessment and knowledge of best practices.

As I said before, we have an unparalleled record in identifying the billions of dollars that have gone astray through tax cheats, and we are aggressively looking at all those files.

Foreign Affairs

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, well-connected Conservative friends should not come ahead of Canadians. That is the point here.

The government has now abandoned any pretense of a balanced foreign policy. It turns out that appointing the CEO of Rio Tinto to restructure the department was just a start. Its new trade-only foreign policy puts business interests ahead of national interests. Why are Conservatives ignoring our diplomats and letting CEOs of multinationals dictate our foreign policy?

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, nothing could be further from the truth. Our government stands up for Canadian values, and our government stands up for Canadian interests, whether it is human rights abuses in Iran, where Canada led last week at the United Nations in getting, once again, 83 countries to stand with Canada in condemning the terrible human rights practices, or whether it is standing up for the human rights situation in Sri Lanka with the leadership of our Prime Minister. That has been noted right around the world.

Canadians can count on our government to always stand up and do the right thing.

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, trade is only one aspect of international relations, and we cannot and must not limit ourselves to that alone.

Instead of moving forward with a balanced foreign policy that defends the interests of all Canadians and Canada's global interests—like peace, security, development and democracy—the Conservatives are saying that only the interests of private companies matter.

Is the Minister of Foreign Affairs pleased that his department is being taken over by the Department of International Trade?

[John Baird, Conservative, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, our government takes a principled foreign policy. Whenever we address foreign policy priorities, we are never afraid to do so, even when we do it alone.

Our government promotes job creation. Our government promotes economic growth. We have focused on the economy, so that we have more dollars to pay for important priorities like health care and education. We will continue to promote Canadian values and Canadian interests in every corner of the globe.

International Trade

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Mr. Speaker, our government is focused on what matters. That is creating jobs and opportunities. Opening markets for Canadian exporters is a key aspect of our government's economic action plan. Unlike the NDP, which is opposed to trade, and the Liberals, who have no plan for the economy, Conservatives understand the importance of opening new markets for Canadian exporters.

Could the Minister of International Trade please update the House on the next steps in Canada's pro-trade plan?

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Minister of International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Souris—Moose Mountain for his timely question.

Today, our government launched the global markets action plan. This new trade promotion plan will entrench the concept of economic diplomacy by harnessing government resources and services in order to maximize the success of Canada's exporters and investors in key foreign markets. Our target is to grow Canada's small and medium-size enterprise footprint in emerging markets by 10,000 companies.

It is an ambitious target, but I am confident that Canadian small and medium-size enterprises are up to the task. That is how we create jobs and opportunities for Canadians.

Food Safety

[Malcolm Allen, NDP, Welland, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians should have confidence that the food they are feeding their families is safe. However, the Auditor General says that the current government is failing when it comes to food safety.

CFIA's response to the massive XL food recall created total confusion. It is little wonder: the department is still using an untested draft emergency response plan from 2004. Why did Conservatives ignore multiple warnings and then fail to fix Canada's food recall system?

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, the member is incorrect, and the Auditor General did not say that. In fact, the Auditor General said that Canadians can have confidence in the fact that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency identifies potentially unsafe foods, investigates quickly, and also removes those foods from the shelves so Canadians are not purchasing them and taking them home.

In terms of the management plan, that is one of the recommendations. In fact, CFIA officials have already been working on that, and they expect to have their final emergency plan in short order.