(Return tabled)
House of Commons Hansard #222 of the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was parents.
House of Commons Hansard #222 of the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was parents.
(Return tabled)
Hélène Laverdière NDP Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC
With respect to the Partnership with Canadians program at the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), for each year from 2006 to 2012: (a) how many calls for proposals were issued, broken down by year and type of call for proposal; (b) how many proposals were received, broken down by year and type of call for proposal; and (c) how many proposals were approved, broken down by (i) year, (ii) partner, (iii) type of call for proposal, (iv) total dollar amount contributed by CIDA, (v) total dollar amount contributed by partner, (vi) description of project, (vii) recipient country, (viii) CIDA priority theme or cross cutting theme, (ix) length of days of approval, (x) length of project, (xi) grant or contribution?
(Return tabled)
Ted Hsu Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
With regard to FedNor: (a) when did hospices become ineligible for FedNor funding under the Community Economic Development priority of the Northern Ontario Development Program; (b) when was the decision made to do this; (c) what were the last five hospices funded through FedNor; and (d) which ridings are these last five hospices located in?
(Return tabled)
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
With regard to the response provided by the Minister of International Cooperation to written question Q-972 on the Order Paper, in which the Minister states: “Since 2006, there has been (1) entity in receipt of CIDA funding while being under legal protection from creditors; however, this entity continues to meet its contractual obligations and is delivering results through its programming”: (a) what is the name of the entity referred to in this response; (b) what are all the projects for which this entity is receiving or has received funding from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) while under legal protection from creditors; (c) what is the amount of funding that this entity is receiving or has received from CIDA while under legal protection from creditors; (d) what are the beginning and end dates for any projects this entity has undertaken with the assistance of CIDA funding while under legal protection from creditors; (e) what is the specific date on which this entity obtained legal protection from creditors; (f) what were the recommendations by CIDA to the Minister of International Cooperation with regard to any projects that this entity sought to undertake with funding from CIDA since 2006; and (g) what are all the decisions rendered by the Minister of International Cooperation with regard to any projects that this entity sought to undertake with funding from CIDA since 2006?
(Return tabled)
Colin Carrie Conservative Oshawa, ON
Finally, Mr. Speaker, I ask that the remaining questions be allowed to stand.
The House resumed consideration of the motion that Bill C-48, An Act to amend the Income Tax Act, the Excise Tax Act, the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act, the First Nations Goods and Services Tax Act and related legislation, be read the second time and referred to a committee.
The Acting Speaker Conservative Barry Devolin
When this was last before the House, the hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Revenue had completed her remarks, but there are five minutes for questions and comments.
The hon. member for Beauport—Limoilou has the floor.
Raymond Côté NDP Beauport—Limoilou, QC
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo for her speech. I also salute her as a member of the Standing Committee on Finance. The only thing I deplore, obviously, is that she is not commenting on the criticism by witnesses at the Standing Committee on Finance regarding the government's negligence and lax attitude.
Let me remind this House that the Conservative Party has been in power for seven years now and could have taken much quicker action to resolve the issue of the mountain of comfort letters. This brings about an enormous amount of uncertainty.
I will not hide the fact that I spoke with a number of witnesses as part of the committee's work and in private after each meeting. Many of them confided in me that they could no longer stand hearing the government claim that the fact that it was a minority and there was a crisis created obstacles to incorporating these comfort letters into the Income Tax Act.
What does my colleague have to say about those comments from our witnesses?
Technical Tax Amendments Act, 2012Government Orders
Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo B.C.
Conservative
Cathy McLeod ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Revenue
Mr. Speaker, the fact is that every single witness who has come forward has said witnesses have been broadly consulted. They are very supportive of moving the legislation forward. They perhaps did not understand why there were so many speakers from the opposition rising and saying essentially very similar things. They encourage all members of the House to move forward.
Certainly, our minister has felt that, as we deal with this very important issue, we need to have regular and effective updates to our important tax amendment legislation.
Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB
Mr. Speaker, the Liberal Party indicated a while back that we are supportive of the bill ultimately passing. We feel there has been a fairly significant amount of time since we have had a law passed to deal with the tax changes that are required.
There is a very thick component when we look at tax guides. They have an asterisk or a grey faded colour to indicate that these are measures for which they are hoping to see legislation take place. That is what Bill C-48 would do. It would invoke a series of changes that are long overdue in their passage, and we do anticipate the bill will pass in a timely fashion.
My question to the member is: How often does she feel legislation of this nature should be brought forward on a go-forward basis?
Cathy McLeod Conservative Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC
Mr. Speaker, I want to acknowledge the support and thank the hon. member for indicating that he recognizes the importance of this piece of legislation and the importance of moving it forward.
We all recognize that, due to some very extraordinary circumstances, it is absolutely time to move forward. Certainly, all the witnesses who came before committee said they were supportive of the legislation, that they have been broadly consulted and that it is time.
We look forward to the quick passage of Bill C-48.
Alain Giguère NDP Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC
Mr. Speaker, as a tax lawyer, I am very pleased to speak to a bill that should have been introduced a very long time ago.
It has been 11 years and the Conservatives have not introduced a technical bill. Unfortunately, they are not the only ones to blame. The Liberal government shares that blame. We now have 200 amendments to the Income Tax Act in a 1,000-page document. We have only nine hours to debate a 1,000-page document.
I would like to know how many parliamentarians here in this House understand how important this bill is. I am sure that in nine hours of debate, no one here has been able to make it through 1,000 pages. Supporting this bill is an act of faith. We are putting our trust in the professionalism of the people who drafted this bill and the officials at the Canada Revenue Agency, because it is clear that parliamentarians are not sure about what they are voting for. That is serious.
The Income Tax Act is probably the most important statute in Parliament. Without this legislation, we are not able to pay police officers, public servants or nurses. It serves as a financial and economic foundation for the government, but the Conservatives decided that this act was not important enough to be addressed every year.
The purpose of this bill is to do nothing more than catch up on the backlog of comfort letters. This bill includes 200 of 400. We will still have to catch up on 200 letters, and we will also have to assume that every budget bill will lead to an amendment of the comfort letters. This should be done every year. Clearly, that has not been the case.
That is why we are blindly working our way through an obstacle course. No one can tell me that parliamentarians sat down and read 1,000 pages. In our legal system, ignorance of the law is no excuse. Unfortunately, the Income Tax Act is obviously an exception to that. Tax experts, who appeared in our committees, told us that they did not know what was in force and what was not.
How can we enforce a law that is not written or that will only be enforced at a given time? Can we say that we will enforce the law when we have the time? How wonderful. One of the main reasons Italy and Greece had financial problems was because these governments were not able to claim the taxes they were owed.
The European crisis is a financial and tax crisis. Those people were expecting their government to have money coming in. The money never materialized because their government did not implement measures to ensure that the ministry of revenue was able to collect the taxes owed to the government.
Here in Canada, there are tax avoidance problems. Tax avoidance is the use of means within the law to avoid or delay payment of taxes. It is legal. For example, RRSPs generally lend themselves to tax avoidance. By contributing to RRSPs, we avoid paying taxes. That is legal.
Unfortunately, the law is now so riddled with holes, confusion and contradictions that a good tax expert can find a legal way for a client to avoid paying taxes. It is legal. It was not planned or foreseen by the government, but the law is so poorly drafted that it allows a good tax expert to find loopholes, and that is legal.
We try to prevent tax avoidance by prohibiting aggressive tax planning. The abuse cannot be censured if the law is poorly drafted. The responsibility lies with the government.
There is tax evasion and tax avoidance. What is the difference? Tax evasion involves breaking the law, circumventing it by fraudulent means, and involves white collar criminals. We have to prohibit tax evasion and implement means to fight it. When a law is poorly written or when officials do not know what to do, it is difficult to put an end to these fraudulent practices. Tax avoidance entails finding legal means to avoid paying taxes that are owing. Tax evasion is a criminal offence. In both cases, and despite commendable efforts, the government is losing control of the enforcement of its legislation. That is a serious threat.
For many years, any tax experts who appeared before the Standing Committee on Finance, the Standing Committee on Public Accounts and all committees that are economic in nature indicated that the text of the Income Tax Act had areas that were underlined and shaded in grey. This indicates that a comfort letter was issued, but the change has not yet been incorporated into legislation. There are 400 examples of this. Understandably, people want this to be corrected, and quickly.
Imagine a tax expert who presents a tax plan. That person is told that these comfort letters might be adopted one day, or maybe not. Uncertainty reigns. When there is a change in government, the new government can decide not to approve a comfort letter and never to enforce it; it can reject it. For 11 years, a tax expert might not know if his or her carefully prepared plan is legal or not.
When a comfort letter is drafted, the corrections that it makes should be applied immediately in the months that follow. That is the main message. We are in favour of adopting all 400 comfort letters. The government has presented only 200, but another 200 are still to come. They must be incorporated into the Income Tax Act.
Our hope now is that, in the future, this government will have the decency to amend the Income Tax Act relatively quickly and incorporate these comfort letters any time it brings down a budget that includes comfort letters. This is an absolute necessity if we do not want to find ourselves in the same situation as Greece, Italy and Spain, countries that lost control of their taxes and can no longer collect them and pay their debts.
Raymond Côté NDP Beauport—Limoilou, QC
Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to congratulate my colleague from Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, my seatmate, on his excellent speech. He enlightened us and imparted his great wisdom. I have probably said enough.
My colleague's expertise allowed him to point out several very important elements. I will focus on one particular aspect that was frequently raised by the experts we met with at the finance department, and that is planning.
Millions of Canadians are facing the threat of tax planning that is in no way fraudulent, but that is unclear because the government has been so lax. Sometimes people are faced with claims or find themselves in unfair situations.
I would like my colleague to talk about this very serious issue, which affects all Canadians.
Alain Giguère NDP Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC
Mr. Speaker, that is the tragedy of this situation.
Take, for example, a comfort letter from 11 years ago concerning airlines. These companies' tax situations have evolved and that comfort letter is now worthless. It does not apply. It no longer makes sense from a legislative point of view because airlines have legally restructured under international agreements with other airlines.
That is serious. A comfort letter is drawn up and when it is time to implement it, the situation it addressed no longer exists.
The government has clearly lost control of taxation in a situation like that.
Robert Aubin NDP Trois-Rivières, QC
Mr. Speaker, I do not have the tax expertise my colleague does, so I would like to benefit from his wisdom.
The Conservative government is always talking about cuts, particularly cuts to employment insurance. We could make a whole list.
Could my colleague tell me just how much the government loses to tax evasion?
How much revenue would the government be looking at if the problem was tackled head-on?
Alain Giguère NDP Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC
Mr. Speaker, this is obviously a serious case.
We have talked a lot about tax havens. Unfortunately, Canadian practices have been assessed at $9 billion by Mr. Lauzon, director of the socio-economic studies lab at the Université du Québec à Montréal.
We are talking about duly incorporated companies being used as tax havens. We are not talking about organized crime. This $9 billion involves duly incorporated companies and individuals who are using illegal methods, namely, tax evasion.
Claude Gravelle NDP Nickel Belt, ON
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech.
Earlier, the member for Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke stood up and said that this bill has been debated for 100 days. I checked, and it has actually been only nine hours. There is a big difference between nine hours and 100 days of debate.
I think the Conservatives are frustrated. Could my colleague please give me his opinion on the Conservatives' frustration?
Alain Giguère NDP Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC
Mr. Speaker, my answer will be brief.
We have had nine hours of debate on a 1,000-page text that includes 200 comfort letters. We are forced to abandon our legislative authority and trust the drafters.
No one can tell me that a single Conservative MP has read these 1,000 pages. It is obviously shoddy, haphazard work, makeshift work. This is nonsense. We are ramming through 200 comfort letters. No one better tell me that this is our responsibility.
We had nine hours to talk about 1,000 pages of text. I challenge any Conservative member to tell me that they read and understood them.
Bob Zimmer Conservative Prince George—Peace River, BC
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak in this House today to Bill C-48, the technical tax amendments act, 2012.
Before I continue, I must say that I do find it remarkable that the opposition has delayed timely consideration of this highly technical bill for weeks on end, for no other reason than to stand in this House and tell us that they agree with its passage. It is truly bizarre.
Despite much of the bill's content having been made public already, despite extensive consultation and endorsement from key stakeholders, and despite pre-study by parliamentarians and the House of Commons finance committee, the NDP stands in this place once again delaying the passage of this legislation for absolutely no apparent reason.
It is not as if it does not know or will not support the bill. These are the words of the NDP finance critic speaking to our government's technical tax amendments at the committee earlier this week:
Obviously we support the goal of closing tax loopholes and making the tax system in Canada clearer and easier to understand for Canadians. [...] it is important that these technical changes be adopted so that there is clarity and certainty in our tax legislation.
However, it is not just the NDP. At the same meeting of the finance committee, the Liberal MP for Markham—Unionville made it clear that these delay tactics are nothing more than partisan games when he admitted, and I quote, “all parties are supporting this bill”. Parliamentary procedure tricks aside, delaying this legislation has very real implications for the Canadian taxpayer. Parliament has not passed a technical income tax bill in over 10 years, and both the experts and the opposition agree that it is long overdue.
For those watching at home who may not be familiar with this legislation, the technical tax amendments act moves to clear the backlog of outstanding technical tax amendments created as a result of Parliament's delay in passing such a bill.
What is remarkable with the opposition's delay tactics is that the government provided them with an advance copy of the bill before it was introduced in Parliament and indicated it would work with them to make any necessary changes to the legislation. However, that was not the opposition's only opportunity.
One would never know from the NDP's blustering partisan rhetoric that the government conducted a wide range of open and public consultations on the majority of the proposed amendments included in this legislation. Specifically, from 2009 to 2011, the government had no fear of any of these consultations that were inviting comments from Canadians, including NDP members. If the NDP had concerns, it could have shared them with the government in December 2009, July 2010, August 2010, November 2010, December 2010, March 2011, August 2011, October 2011, or at any point thereafter.
Instead of working co-operatively to bring certainty for Canadian taxpayers, the opposition has chosen petty delay tactics at the taxpayers' expense. It is not only that, but the NDP needles over a 100-day filibuster and has gotten so out of hand that groups like the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants have come to Ottawa to plead with Parliament to end this ridiculous charade.
The NDP has heard this message loud and clear. Why will it not show some respect for taxpayers and get moving on Bill C-48? While the NDP drone on about process, despite the bill having been before Parliament for over 100 days, failure to move it has real consequences for the Canadian economy, and the experts have warned us of these consequences.
It was just this week at finance committee that Larry Chapman, executive director and CEO of the Canadian Tax Foundation, reminded parliamentarians of the importance of swift passage of this legislation. This is what he had to say:
...it represents 10 years of repairs and maintenance in updating of the Income Tax Act and the Excise Tax Act. Its passage is important to all Canadians. [...] I want to emphasize it again, its passage is very important to all Canadians.
I urge my colleagues in the NDP to listen carefully to his words, which bear repeating. This is very important to all Canadians.
It is not just members of the tax community urging swift passage of this bill. Indeed, the Auditor General of Canada, in a recent report, identified the existing backlog of technical amendments as a pressing issue requiring Parliament's immediate attention. Our government agreed with each of the Auditor General's recommendations and moved quickly to bring forward technical amendments to address them, amendments currently delayed by the NDP in the House.
During its recent appearance before the finance committee, the Office of the Auditor General went even further and explained why delay would do nothing but fan the flames of uncertainty, resulting in lost tax revenue for the government and higher costs for taxpayers.
Let me quote one of those comments at length for the benefit of the opposition, and perhaps it will come to its senses. It states:
Our system of income taxation depends on taxpayers self-assessing their tax obligation based on a clear understanding of the law.
Legislative clarity is important if taxpayers are to easily self-assess and correctly calculate their taxes. When the intent of the legislation is not clearly conveyed by the words, taxpayers may face higher costs to obtain professional advice, may be more willing to use aggressive tax plans, and may need to re-file a tax return at additional cost.
Uncertainty about how the tax law should be interpreted can also affect the efficiency of tax administration. For example, there are higher costs for the Agency to provide additional guidance and interpretation to taxpayers and tax auditors.There are also increased administrative costs for the Agency to obtain waivers from taxpayers to extend the limitation period for audit reassessments until the uncertainty is resolved.
It may even result in lost tax revenues. One would think that those words alone would be enough to bring the NDP onside, especially with its $56 billion in proposed new spending. It could be planning to make up the difference with the $21 billion carbon tax. I do not know.
Nevertheless, the Auditor General has made it clear that we cannot put up with the NDP hyper-partisanship when it comes to the simplest of routine proceedings. While the NDP wants to filibuster a highly technical bill, the majority of which has been in the public domain for years, it feigns ignorance of the need for its timely passage.
In closing, let me recount the recent exchange between the NDP finance critic and an expert tax witness, and Canadians can decide for themselves the true motives of the NDP's needless delay. In response to a question from the member for Parkdale—High Park asking whether it is negative for our economy if we do not pass these amendments in a timely manner, expert witness Gabe Hayos of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants replied, “Absolutely. [...] there's just no doubt about it”.
With that, I urge the NDP to show some concern for our economy, demonstrate respect for Canadian taxpayers and get moving on Bill C-48.
Claude Gravelle NDP Nickel Belt, ON
Mr. Speaker, I find it unfortunate that the member would falsely accuse the NDP of holding up this bill. It is perhaps because he is frustrated. If he had been listening this morning, he would have heard that I checked with the table and we have been debating this bill for nine and a half hours. Where I come from, nine and a half hours is a long way from a hundred days. I did not know there was that much of a time difference between British Columbia and northern Ontario.
He also said in his speech that the NDP was filibustering this bill. Until today, there has not been a single Conservative MP who has stood up to speak to the bill. All of a sudden, today the Conservatives are filibustering the bill. Why are they so frustrated, and why can they not tell Canadians the truth about debating the bill for nine hours?